Hell Have No Fury
by thehelpinghand
Summary: I am Aileen Potter, Daughter of the Sea, Granddaughter to the Goddess of Love. I am the Champion of the Great Goddess Hecate. I am the eyes that see and acknowledge all that lays before me. I am the torch that burns like a beacon in times of darkness, pain and sorrow. I am the protector of the weak, innocent and just. And this…this is the story of my life MAJOR EDIT 13/09/2017
1. Chapter 1: Aileen Potter Edited

Okay, lets start with: I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER. I'm just happily playing in JK's sand box. I DON'T OWN PERCY JACKSON either. I'm only allowed to play on the swing sets (pouts).

So, the next thing on my list of things to put on the top of this story: I've used a lot of the book structure of the first four years. By this I mean Aileen will be face a troll, save a dragon, go down the third floor, be blamed for opening the chamber, reveal her parseltongue abilities in the dueling club, save Ginny and kill the basilisk, and confront Sirius at the end of third year. Aileen will also be entered into the goblet, however she will be complete the tasks completely differently to Harry. If you don't like stories that do this then this isn't the story for you. Although I divert most majorly from the story line after book four, there are points through the first four years were Aileen dose something that Harry would never do because that is the way I've portrayed my character.

And finally, I have heavily edited the first twenty four chapters. You need to re-read the entire story to understand what happens after that point because it all ties together. By heavily edited, I mean nearly 40% of my story has completely been re-written. There is better characterization, more realistic sword skills and a little bit more on the emotional explanation of my character.

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Chapter 1: Aileen Potter

Everyone knows that Mr and Mrs Dursley were perfectly normal, and that they were abnormally proud of this fact. In fact, everyone knows that they were the last people you'd turn to when you find yourself involved in the strange and mysterious, because they just didn't tolerate such nonsense.

Mr Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunning's, which made drills and, I'm sure, made other construction equipment, but drills were the only department Mr Dursley ever talked about (because it was the best!). He was a big beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large moustache.

He worked regular hours and was always home on the weekends. Once a month he would take his son out for a father/son bonding day. As far as his neighbours were concerned, these were the perfect attributes of a father. However, unknown to them all, he also had an unhealthy drinking habit. Every night he would have at least one glass of alcohol (normally scotch, vodka or whiskey) and when he could get away with it, or he had had a really good day (as a celebration) or really bad day (in commiseration) he would have a minimum of four pints.

Mrs Dursley was thin, only just falling into the healthy weight category. She had soft blond hair, cut so that it framed her face, which had high cheek bones, and a slightly pointed nose. Her lack of fat made her face look slightly angular and gave her a pinched look. Like the rest of her body, her neck was long but it didn't look out of proportion on her, and she put it to good use with her spying on the neighbours over the garden fences.

Mrs Dursley liked a pristine house, a regulated garden, fine food and a good gossip. However, she was not used to actually doing the work needed to keep a household in order. When she moved in with her husband she only did what she needed to do to keep the inside of the house serviceable unless someone was coming round, in which case she would do a complete clean down. She would hire someone to look after the garden once a week because she didn't know how to care for it (it had been her father's area of expertise and she never saw herself becoming the housewife, especially a housewife with a husband who didn't care for a garden). Meals were also something that she skipped on – four days a week they would have some form of take out or go to a restaurant since Vernon had expressed his dislike for the majority of her foods.

Nearly ten years ago the Dursleys had woken up to find their niece on the front step. However in that time Four Privet Drive had hardly changed at all. The sun rose to greet the same tidy front garden and light up the (regularly polished) brass number four on the Dursleys' front door; it crept into their living room, which was almost exactly the same as it had been on the night when Mr. Dursley realised that something was afoot in the wizarding world. Only the photographs on the mantelpiece really showed how much time had passed.

Ten years ago, there had been lots of pictures of what looked like a large pink beach ball wearing different coloured bonnets - but Dudley Dursley was no longer a baby, and now the photographs showed a large blond boy riding his first bicycle, on a carousel at the fair, playing a computer game with his father, being hugged and kissed by his mother. It showed the slow progression of a young, innocent and blond baby into the spoiled, arrogant, over weight boy that the Dursley's proudly called their son.

The room, the entire house even, held no sign that another had been surviving there for the past ten years. Yet Aileen Potter was still there. Tucked away and sat waiting for her 'Aunt' to wake up to begin their daily routine.

And indeed Petunia's shrill voice soon made the first sound of the morning:

"Up! Get up! Now!" the sound of a bolt sliding open followed this shrieked demand.

Petunia immediately tapped on the door again. "Up!" she screeched in her high pitched voice that grated at Aileen's sensitive hearing the same way nails on a chalk board did.

Aileen absently wondered if this was how Cinderella felt every time her evil step-family rang the bell and demanded something of her without first waiting the few minutes it would take her to respond. The sound of Petunia's sharp steps moving towards the kitchen let Aileen know it was safe to start moving about without the continued shrill of her aunt's voice.

Aileen carefully lifted a spider that had found a home on her knee, and placed it on the floor. Aileen was used to spiders because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them; and that was where she slept. Having already gotten dressed, she silently opened the door to her room and stepped out into the hallway. Stretching out her muscles slightly Aileen sighed before making her way into the kitchen on silent feet.

"You are supposed to have breakfast done by the time I get up. Vernon is already up and getting ready for the day. Now hurry up, I want everything perfect for Dudley's special day." Petunia snapped when she turned around to find Aileen in the kitchen.

"Yes, Ma'am." Aileen said softly before taking out the ingredients to make the pancakes that will go with the bacon that Petunia had 'thoughtfully' set to frying.

While she was cooking, Aileen absently took note of Dudley's present that were covering the dining room. The new computer, television (although he still had a perfectly useable one in his room) and racing bike were taking up most of the room around the table, making her wonder how she was going to place the dishes on the table without moving something (which she was expressly forbidden from doing so because they didn't want her contaminating their 'darling boy's birthday gifts' with her freakishness). Then there was the second question of, why did Dudley want a racing bike. He hated exercise of any form. Even if Dudley chose to ride the bike, it wouldn't survive long because it would buckle under the kids' weight unless the frame and wheels were reinforced. The only exercises that Dudley ever got was when he was beating up the kids in the neighbourhood.

Dudley's favourite punching bag was Aileen - but he couldn't often catch her. Aileen didn't look it but she was very fast and nimble. Aileen had always been small and skinny for her age – not eating enough and living in a small enclosed space tends to stunt someone's growth. Aileen looked even smaller then she actually was because she was forced to wear Dudley's old cloths; Dudley was about five sizes bigger than she was. This meant that no matter how much she hemmed in the cloths, they were always too big on her frame; the more she hemmed it in, the more length was lost and if she hemmed it in enough to fit her skinny frame, it would no longer fit her length wise. Besides, she preferred the slight bagginess of the cloths, because it offered her a means of hiding how very thin she was.

Aileen had been told that she has a very beautiful face (by the few people who had seen past the not quite fitting cloths and the horrible rumours that had been spread about her); what with her heart shape face, large almond shaped eyes that seemed to alternate in its variety of green shades, high cheek bones and sculptured eyebrows. Also she had jet black hair that fell, like waves, down to the small of her back although she normally plaited her hair to keep it out of the way and preventing Vernon and Dudley from using it to hurt her too much.

She was meant to wear glasses but the Dursley's refused to pay for the right prescription so she had to learn how to judge distant and items by sound. Reading was harder since she normally had to have her face inches away from the book when reading, and she didn't even attempt to read anything on the white boards at school unless the writing was extremely large and she was sat at the front (which she tried to avoid happening as much as she possible could).

The one thing Aileen liked about her appearance was her eyes (ignoring the appalling eyesight). When she had discovered that when she was curious they would go a deep sea green; when she was sad they would go a blue-y green and when she was angry they would go a hard emerald green. Sometimes a fire would appear to burn in her eyes as well if she was so angry that it blocked out everything else. Normally they would stay a sea green with emerald green flecks. If anyone knew her really well her eyes would be a giveaway as to her mood because she had learnt not to show emotions on her face whilst around the Dursleys.

However, there was also something she hated about her appearance: a very thin scar, shaped like a bolt of lightning that was engraved just below her hair line and above her right eye. She has had it for as long as she could remember and one of the first questions she could remember asking Petunia was how she had gotten it:

 _"In the car crash when you're_ _filthy_ _parents died," - she had said. "And don't ask questions."_

Which was why she didn't like it. Aileen was very good at telling when people where lying to her and she knew that that her aunt was lying about the car crash (since it was something her aunt was sprout off about repeatedly). However, she was not lying about when she got the scar – the night her parents died. It was a reminder of the night she lost her parents and was left with her 'relatives'. It was a reminder that her parents lost their lives when all she had was a scar to remember them by.

Despite not believing that her parents had died in a car crash she could not ask her 'aunt' for more details because one of the many rules of living a peaceful life at the Dursley's was 'Don't ask questions.'

Her 'uncle' entered the kitchen as Aileen placed the first pancake on a plate then flipped the bacon.

"Vernon." Petunia said, filling her obligatory role of informing Vernon of when she had (or had not) done something, even when he already knew the information that he was about to be told. Petunia deferring to Vernon with this information was her way of acknowledging that he was the one with the power in their relationship. "The girl slept in again, I had to start breakfast."

Aileen's back had stiffen from the moment Petunia addressed her husband, she couldn't have started breakfast that morning because she had been locked in the cupboard. Unfortunately this would not stop the beating that she knew was coming. Carefully, Aileen removed the bacon from the flaming hob and made sure that the bowl of batter was nowhere near the edge – it would save her some trouble later down the line because she had burnt the breakfast or made a mess with the batter.

"Did you now, Freak?" He sneered and Aileen heard his chair creek as he turned. "Answer me!" he barked.

Aileen turned silently, clenching all her muscles and focusing on a spot just in front of Vernon; she was fighting every instinct in her body that had told her to stand and fight or runaway instead of just taking it. She had learnt that running would lead to more pain, and that should _couldn't_ fight back without severe consequence. Being silent and subservient generally meant she was in less pain by the time Vernon was finished or he was too exhausted to continue. If she made him angry, then he had more energy to continue.

"Yes sir." She answered softly, barely loud enough for the man to hear on the other side of the room.

Vernon's eyes narrowed before he got up and stalked over to Aileen. The moment he was close enough to her, Vernon swung his fists and hit her across the face. Aileen went down with the blow, she could have dodged but to do so would have brought her more pain. Vernon then reached down, pulling her up and grabbed her arm, holding it over the flame until the skin began to blister. Aileen turned her head away and gritted her teeth against the pain, dearly wishing she had turned that off before she turned to face Vernon so that the pain wouldn't be as bad.

"Consider yourself lucky, Freak. I'll have to deal with you later. If it wasn't Dudley's birthday I'd deal with you. Right. This. Second. Now cook breakfast!" he barked before throwing Aileen back to the floor.

"Yes sir." Aileen answered without any infliction in her voice, and once he was far enough away she got straight back to cooking, ignoring the third degree burn on her arm and the slight tremor in her hand: she would heal it later.

Aileen was just placing everything on what little room was left on the table and putting a fresh pot of tea and coffee on, when Dudley arrived in the kitchen with his mother (who had left the moment she told Vernon that Aileen had slept in). Dudley looked a lot like Vernon. He had a large pink face, not much neck, small, watery blue eyes, and thick blond hair that lay smoothly on his thick, fat head. Petunia often said that Dudley looked like a baby angel – Aileen often thought that Dudley looked like a pig in a wig.

Aileen was pouring Petunia a cup of tea and Vernon a cup of coffee while Dudley was counting his presents. His face fell.

"Thirty-six," he said, looking up at his mother and father, ignoring Aileen's presence in the room since she was below his notice unless he wanted to have some 'fun'. "That's two less than last year."

"Darling, you haven't counted Auntie Marge's present, see, it's here under this big one from Mommy and Daddy." Petunia tried placating her son.

"All right, thirty-seven then," said Dudley, going red in the face.

Aileen, noticing the beginning signs of a temper tantrum, quickly backed up and began doing the dishes. If she stayed out of the line of fire then Petunia and Vernon would have to deal with it.

Petunia obviously sensed danger, too, because she said quickly,

"And we'll buy you another two presents while we're out today. How's that, popkin? Two more presents. Is that all right''

Dudley thought for a moment. It looked like hard work. Finally he said slowly,

"So I'll have thirty ... thirty..."

"Thirty-nine, sweetums," said Petunia.

"Oh." Dudley sat down heavily and grabbed the nearest parcel. "All right then."

Vernon chuckled. "Little tyke wants his money's worth, just like his father. Atta boy, Dudley!" He ruffled Dudley's hair.

Aileen shook her head in disgust as she discreetly splashed some water on her arm to help heal the burn (it was too sever to heal completely without submerging it for a couple of minutes which was not something she could risk doing at that moment with the Dursley in the same room. She didn't understand how water healed her, but she wasn't going to complain when it was probably the only reason she hadn't died of infection or blood lost when she was younger.). How could Petunia and Vernon not be worried that their ELEVEN year old son could not even count properly?

At that moment the telephone rang and Petunia went to answer it while Vernon watched Dudley unwrap his presents. Aileen tried to ignore them as she continued to do the washing up but she saw him unwrap the racing bike, a video camera, a remote control airplane, sixteen new computer games, and a VCR, from the corner of her eye. She spent to long keeping an eye on her surroundings for the next attack or threat upon her person, that she unconsciously observed her surrounding's even when she didn't really want to.

Dudley didn't care where he dumped the wrapping paper since he knew it would be Aileen's job to clean it up. In fact he was having great fun ripping the paper to pieces and then throwing out around the living room. The more mess he made, the more fun he could have taunting Aileen when she would have to clean it up later that day.

He was ripping the paper off a golden wristwatch (most probably made with fool's gold or tinted that colour in order to make it appear expensive when it was probably a relatively cheap watch) when Petunia came back from the telephone looking both angry and worried.

"Bad news, Vernon," she said. "Mrs. Figg's broken her leg. She can't take her." She jerked her head in Aileen's general direction.

Dudley's mouth dropped open in horror and Aileen saw him tighten his grip on the wrist watch – most likely cracking the links in the delicate watch since he had never learnt to control his responses to anger/frustration or annoyance properly.

Every year on Dudley's birthday, his parents took him and a friend out for the day, to adventure parks, hamburger restaurants, or the movies. Every year, Aileen was left behind with Mrs. Figg, an old lady who lived two streets away. Aileen didn't mind going there because Mrs Figg would let her help with the cats, read and go out to the park. She wasn't obliged to do any chores and she didn't have to put up with the Dursley's bullying. It was essentially the only time she got time to herself to just relax a little.

"Now what?" said Petunia; shooting Aileen a furious look, as though she'd planned for Mrs Figg to break her leg and not be able to take her.

"We could phone Marge," Vernon suggested after a moment.

"Don't be silly, Vernon, she hates the freak." Petunia snapped, she also disliked Marge and preferred to have minimal interaction with the vial women (which was one of the few things that Aileen and Petunia had in common, that and their hate for Marge's dog: Ripper).

"What about what's-her-name, your friend - Yvonne?"

"On vacation in Majorca," snapped Petunia her jealously leaking through; she had always wanted to go on holiday somewhere exotic like Majorca but Vernon was a firm believer in having holidays in Britain ("helping the British economy" he would say, "not those money grabbing tourists").

"I suppose we could take her to the zoo," said Petunia slowly, "... and leave her in the car..."

"That car's new; she's not sitting in it alone..."

" _Not to mention its illegal and I could die from heatstroke and you would both be arrested and thrown in jail for child neglect and man slaughter_." Aileen muttered under her breath in Latin, so quietly that Dursleys wouldn't have heard her even if they could have understood what she had said. She spoke her thoughts allowed whenever she could because it made her feel better – a little bit of defiance against Petunia and Vernon's rules (she wasn't supposed to talk out of turn).

She had learnt how to speak Latin fluently for the school play they did at the end of her second year. Most of the class had only learned a few words, but the language had come naturally to her so – with the help of a friendly librarian – she had learned to speak it fluently. The same librarian had also taught her Ancient Greek, New Greek and French. She was working on her Spanish and German, but they were much harder to learn.

Dudley began to cry loudly. In fact, he wasn't really crying - it had been years since he'd really cried - but he knew that if he screwed up his face and wailed, his mother would give him anything he wanted.

"Dinky Duddyums, don't cry, Mummy won't let her spoil your special day!" she cried, flinging her arms around him just as Dudley (and Aileen) had predicted she would.

"I... don't... want... her... t-t-to come!" Dudley yelled between huge, pretend sobs. "She always sp- spoils everything!" He shot Aileen a nasty grin through the gap in his mother's arms. Aileen ignored it since she didn't care what Dudley thought, nor did she really care if they allowed her to go to the zoo or not.

Just then, the doorbell rang - "Oh, good Lord, they're here!" said Petunia frantically - and a moment later, Dudley's best friend, Piers Polkiss, walked in with his mother. Piers was a scrawny boy with a face like a rat. He was usually the one who held people's arms behind their backs while Dudley hit them. Dudley stopped pretending to cry at once which caused Aileen to roll her eyes as she began clearing the table (somehow, they had managed to eat everything between opening the presents and arguing).

Half an hour later, Aileen was sitting stiffly in the back of the Dursleys' car with Piers and Dudley, on the way to the zoo for the first time in her life. Petunia and Vernon hadn't been able to think of anything else to do with her, but before they'd left, Vernon had held Aileen back.

"I'm warning you," he had said, putting his large purple face right up close to Aileen's (they were still inside the house so no one could see). "I'm warning you now, girl - any funny business, anything at all - and you'll be in that cupboard from now until Christmas."

"I'm not going to do anything," Aileen said softly; even though she knew Vernon wouldn't keep her in the cupboard for that long, she was aware that he could (would) keep her locked up until the end of the school year - which was two months away.

Vernon didn't believe her. No one ever did. The problem was, strange things often happened around Aileen, and it was no good telling the Dursley's that she didn't do it, or that she didn't know how it happened.

When she was six, Petunia had been trying to force her into a revolting old sweater of Dudley's (brown with orange puff balls) but the harder she tried to pull it over her head, the smaller it seemed to become, until finally it might have fitted a hand puppet, but certainly wouldn't fit Aileen. For some reason Petunia decided it must have shrunk in the wash and so she wasn't punished for freakishness (Aileen believed it was more likely that Petunia did not wish to see her get punished – and so didn't tell her husband – because she had also found the sweater revolting (a gift from Marge) and was pleased to have a reason to chuck it out).

On the other hand, she'd gotten into terrible trouble for being found on the roof of the school kitchens and for convincing a fellow student to join her. Dudley's gang had been beating up one of the younger kids, as usual, so Aileen had picked the kid up (they weren't much shorter than her, but this didn't bother her overly much since she was stronger than she looked) and ran off, Dudley's gang chasing behind her. Then, much to her surprise as anyone else's, she was on the roof.

The teachers had been absolutely furious and the Dursley's had received a very angry phone call from Aileen's headmistress telling them she had been climbing school buildings (which she hadn't done till she climbed 'down' from the roof with the kid on her back much to the teacher's horror). The kid had hero worshipped her ever since, and he also started bringing his friends to join her in the school library to stay out of Dudley's way because Aileen was rarely in the school field and so unlikely to interfere all the time.

And then there were the monsters.

Aileen wasn't sure why but when she turned seven monsters from Greek Mythology kept appearing once a week or so. At first she didn't understand what the monsters were but when they did the Roman gods in school Aileen looked deeper into the topic and found that the monsters she was fighting on a weekly basis could have been from Greek or Roman history. She figured they were most likely from Greek mythology since a man handed her a pendent that turned into a sword about two months after the monsters started turning up, and said his name was Poseidon.

At the time she wasn't sure he was _The_ Poseidon, God of the Sea, but when she looked back on that day she remembered that he felt like the ocean: vast and powerful. However the Dursley's knew nothing about these monsters – or the pendent/sword. It seemed like regular people couldn't even see them – which weirded Aileen out whenever one came to the school grounds.

She also met another person who she believed to be a goddess, not long after her encounter with Poseidon. For a couple of days after she saw the Sea God, she would leave the Dursleys and there would be a women watching her. She always looked to be in pain, and yet there was hope in her eyes as well. The weirdest thing about the women was that no else seemed to notice her.

After several days of being stalked by this women, she just disappeared. Oddly enough, the same day that the women disappeared, the number of monsters that attacked her dropped to around one a month or so, as opposed to one a week, and the odd occurrences that happened around her (like turning her teacher's hair blue) were ignored by everyone unless it was something _really_ big. Aileen didn't know who the women (goddess?) was, but she knew that she was the reason why her life got that little bit easier, and for that she was thankful.

But that didn't mean she let Poseidon's gift sit idle. She had survived those first few monster attacks through shear dumb luck, or because she had been able to make it back to the boarders of the Dursleys home where the monsters seemed to lose her. She went to the library and took out books on self-defence. And when she had memorised everything they had, she used to library computers to show her clips to teach her how to fight. Then she practised, learning to move her sword with deadly precision while her feet never stayed still. She also used other recommended exercises to get herself something strength on top of her natural speed and agility.

The monsters she generally fought were stupid and alone, having just stumbled across her sent and decided to try and eat her for a meal. Because of this she used her environment to her advantage. Setting up traps that meant she rarely had to engage in combat because she just wasn't confident enough with her sword skills yet to engage the monsters in open and (relatively) fair combat. She doubted she would ever be confident in her sword skills until she had a trainer who could teach what she needed to know.

Today, she was absolutely set on the fact that nothing was going to happen that was a result of her conscious control; which, looking back on it, was a very foolish vow to make considering she never _had_ any conscious control of the weird things that happened around her….

While he drove, Vernon complained to Petunia. He liked to complain about things: people at work, Aileen, the council, Aileen, the bank, and Aileen were just a few of his favourite subjects. This morning, it was motorcycles.

"... Roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums," he said, as a motorcycle overtook them.

It was a very sunny Saturday and the zoo was crowded with families by the time they arrived (they had been caught in a traffic jam which meant the Zoo had been open for a couple of hours by the time they got there as opposed to the just opened zoo they had been attempting to arrive for). The Dursleys bought Dudley and Piers large chocolate ice creams at the entrance and then, the smiling lady in the van spotted Aileen hanging back slightly before they could disappear into the crowd.

"What would the Little Miss like?" she asked softly.

Aileen's eyes darted to the Dursley's before looking back at the smiling women. "I don't particularly like ice-cream, ma'am, but do you have any drinks?" Aileen asked softly before the Dursley's could stop her. Vernon's eyes narrowed on her before he forced a smile on his face and turned back to the lady who had grabbed a selection of drinks and placed them so that she could see.

"Please can I just have the bottle of water?" Aileen asked, not wanting to push the Dursley's too far.

"Of course sweet heart, that's another 30p." she added to Vernon before handing over the water.

Aileen had the best morning she'd had in a long time. She was careful to walk a little way apart from the Dursleys so that Dudley and Piers, who were starting to get bored with the animals by lunchtime, wouldn't fall back on their favourite hobby of hitting her.

They ate in the zoo restaurant, and when Dudley had a tantrum because his Knickerbocker glory didn't have enough ice cream on top, Vernon bought him another one and Aileen was allowed to finish the first. However she didn't eat sugary foods and so new it would be a very bad idea if she ate the cream that was left. So she suggested that Dudley could add it to his second Knickerbocker glory so that he had even more. When Dudley did what she suggested Aileen relaxed slightly – wanting to keep what little nutrients she could inside her body instead of vomiting it.

After lunch they went to the reptile house. It was cool and dark in there, with lit windows all along the walls. Behind the glass, all sorts of lizards and snakes were crawling and slithering over bits of wood and stone. Dudley and Piers wanted to see the huge poisonous cobras and thick, man-crushing pythons. Dudley quickly found the largest snake in the place. It could have wrapped its body twice around Vernon's car and crushed it into a trash can - but at the moment it didn't look in the mood. In fact, it was fast asleep.

Dudley stood with his nose pressed against the glass, staring at the glistening brown coils.

"Make it move," he whined at his father. Vernon tapped on the glass, but the snake didn't budge.

"Do it again," Dudley ordered. Vernon wrapped the glass smartly with his knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on.

"This is boring," Dudley moaned. He shuffled away.

Aileen moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake, her eyes tracing its beautiful coils that glistened in the artificial light. She wouldn't have been surprised if it had died of boredom – no company except stupid people drumming their fingers on the glass trying to disturb it all day long. It was worse than having a cupboard as a bedroom, where the only visitor was Petunia and Vernon hammering on the door; at least she got to go to school for eight months of the year and sometimes the Dursley's would kick her out of the house when entertaining house guests.

The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on a level with Aileen's. It winked.

Aileen staredat the snake, confused, before sending a quick look around her to see if anyone was paying attention. Seeing that they weren't she turned back to the snake and winked too.

The snake jerked its head toward Vernon and Dudley, then raised its eyes to the ceiling. It gave Aileen a look that said quite plainly:

" _I get that all the time."_

"I know," Aileen murmured through the glass, though she wasn't sure the snake could hear her. "It must be really annoying."

The snake nodded vigorously.

"Where do you come from, anyway?" Aileen asked.

The snake jabbed its tail at a little sign next to the glass.

Bo Cotrctr, Brzil

Tds spomem ws lcrd on th zoa

Aileen squinted trying to determine what it actually said. After a moment she was able to determine that the sign said:

Boa Constrictor, Brazil.

This specimen was bred in the zoo.

"Oh, you poor thing, you've never seen your home?" Aileen murmured softly.

As the snake shook its head, a deafening shout from behind Aileen made both of them jump.

"DUDLEY! MR. DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!"

Dudley came waddling toward them as fast as he could.

"Out of the way, you," he said, trying to punch Aileen in the ribs. However, Aileen was too fast and used to her cousin's sudden acts of violence. She was able to spin out the way of his punch, and turned back to Dudley and Piers annoyed; she didn't often get to have pleasant conversations and she didn't care that it had been with a snake, they had interrupted her.

What came next happened so fast no one saw how it happened - one second, Piers and Dudley were leaning right up close to the glass, the next, they had leapt back with howls of horror.

The glass front of the boa constrictor's tank had shattered. Luckily for Dudley and Piers, the glass fell into the tank – probably from their weight pushing the glass in. The snake had seen his chance of freedom and extended its slender body to reach to edge of the tank before sliding out – its body slowly uncoiling as he did so. People throughout the reptile house screamed and started running for the exits.

As the snake slid swiftly past her after snapping at her cousin's ankles, Aileen could have sworn a low, hissing voice said, " _Brazil, here I come... Thanksss, amigo,_ _maybe we'll see each other sometime_."

The keeper of the reptile house was shocked and angry by what had happened. All the glass enclosures were reinforced to prevent things like this happening, so to find out that the glass had shattered and one of their largest snakes had escaped (and not been captured) meant that they had to close the reptile house down and run an investigation.

While they were trying to figure everything out, the zoo director made Petunia a strong up of sweetened tea to help calm her down. Petunia hadn't let go of her son since the glass had broken. Aileen stayed out of the way of the drama, sitting in a corner of the director's office and reading a book that she had pulled from the man's bookcase. After nearly two hours, the Dursley headed home with the zoo director's sincerest apologies and a promise that they will look into a way of finding out what had weakened the glass.

Aileen's day to a sharp turn for the worst once they were in the car on the way home. Dudley and Piers had been mostly quiet while in the office, only gibbering in shock whenever someone asked them a question. However, when they got into the car, Piers had finally calmed down enough to say:

"Aileen was talking to it, weren't you, Aileen?"

"No I wasn't. Piers, snakes are unintelligent creatures they can't understand the human language so what would the point in talking to it be? It would be like talking to myself." Aileen said trying to salvage the situation but she could see Vernon's angry glare in the rear-view mirror, even if Piers shrugged the incident off after her explanation, Vernon wouldn't let it go.

Vernon waited until Piers was safely out of the house before starting on Aileen. He was so angry that he couldn't say a word. He simply grabbed Aileen by the collar and dragged her down to the basement. Once there he grabbed the chains that were suspended from the roof and clamped them around her wrist. Aileen fought him all the way but the way that he had grabbed her stop her from fighting back properly.

Once she was hanging by her arms from the ceiling, only being tall enough for her toes to touch the floor, he left her in the dark.

This was not the first time he had chained her to the ceiling and Aileen knew that he would be back. He would beat her for what happened at the zoo.

She had thought about running many times in the last three years (which was when she deemed herself old enough to survive on the streets). But, for some reason, every time she tried running, something would physically pull her back. She always ended up back in the house, with her aunt staring down at her with pursed lips. The longest she had escaped for was five days, and in those five days it had felt like someone was stabbing her in the heart with little pins. It wasn't enough to make her return – she was far too stubborn – but she always ended up back there with no memory as to how.

She had also tried fighting back, which never worked. Although she had fought and killed monsters bigger then Vernon (although she normally only had to deal with hellhounds the occasional cyclops who wasn't friendly would find her) she could never fight Vernon. Every time she tried, her arms felt like they weighed ten tons and it would feel like someone was stabbing her in the heart – far more painfully than it was when she tried running away.

When she faced monsters she had the advantage of knowing the turf and being able to use it as weapons against the monsters. But Vernon's turf was his house, and there was nothing she could do to directly fight the man because he was bigger and stronger than her. All she could try and do was avoid the reasons for the beatings in the first place.

Knowing that she was going to get very little sleep, she tried to relax her body as best she could and even out her breathing. Despite the pain of her shoulder joints being forceful wrenched from their sockets Aileen fell into a light dose.

Word count: 6,486

Copied: 1,756

Edited: 28/04/2017


	2. Chapter 2: Aileen 1st Letter Edited

Okay, lets start with: I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER. I'm just happily playing in JK's sand box. I DON'T OWN PERCY JACKSON either. I'm only allowed to play on the swing sets (pouts).

So, the next thing on my list of things to put on the top of this story: I've used a lot of the book structure of the first four years. By this I mean Aileen will be face a troll, save a dragon, go down the third floor, be blamed for opening the chamber, reveal her parseltongue abilities in the dueling club, save Ginny and kill the basilisk, and confront Sirius at the end of third year. Aileen will also be entered into the goblet, however she will be complete the tasks completely differently to Harry. If you don't like stories that do this then this isn't the story for you. Although I divert most majorly from the story line after book four, there are points through the first four years were Aileen dose something that Harry would never do because that is the way I've portrayed my character.

And finally, I have heavily edited the first twenty four chapters. You need to re-read the entire story to understand what happens after that point because it all ties together. By heavily edited, I mean nearly 40% of my story has completely been re-written. There is better characterization, more realistic sword skills and a little bit more on the emotional explanation of my character.

* * *

Chapter 2: Aileen's First Letter … And Her Hundred and Eighty First Letter

The Zoo incident earned Aileen what could have been her longest punishment. This was because she rarely did magic in public, only the time she appeared on the roof of her school earned her a similar punishment. True to her thoughts before the trip, Vernon had kept her locked up until the start of the summer holidays.

The Dursley's wouldn't let her finish the last few months of school saying that she had caught a very nasty illness. Luckily the History and English teachers - the only teachers Aileen actually liked because they saw who she was and not the rumours - collected all her work and some extra work since they knew she was capable of holding her own. It was sent to her with the expectation it all be returned to them too mark which the Dursley's had no choice but to allow because it would be on the school records and so reflect on them if she didn't complete the work.

Despite no longer being at school, Dudley and his gang still tried to harass her and the other kids of the neighbourhood. Every time she left the house she found them hounding on some poor kid, and simply because she was used to it, she would bring their attention to her. This got her respect from most of the local kids, especially the younger ones since Dudley and his gang wouldn't dare try and attack many of the older students since they could fight back and win.

Ignoring the threat of Dudley's gang since it was insignificant, Aileen spent most of herfree time outside around the neighbourhood. She would help Mrs Figg or any of her neighbours that asked for help with chores: be that walking the dogs, cutting the grass, sorting the garden, hoovering or babysitting. Sometimes she worked for free and other times they would pay her for her time; although she never asked to be payed, she let them decide if they wanted to pay her or not, which generally meant the neighbours would pay her because she wasn't demanding it (reverse psychology she believed it was called?).

When she wasn't helping the neighbours or stuck inside the Dursleys, she was either at the library or the park. At the library she would use the computers and books to research various topics that caught her interest (psychology, science, maths, politics and history were her normal go to subjects). When the librarian had the time, she would sit down and help Aileen with her language practice, or she would randomly ask her questions in one of the languages she had learnt/was learning and expected Aileen to answer in the same tongue.

When she was at the park, she normally went to the small secluded clearing and practised the forms she had learnt, as well as other strengthening exercises like sit ups. When she didn't want to work out, she climbed the trees of sat with the youngers kids who were hiding in the park from Dudley (who had learnt that the park was her home turf and he couldn't get to her there). She had learnt that spending time with 'the normals' when she wasn't in the Dursley's boarders meant that there was less monster attacks. She normally only had to deal with the odd monster once a month when she was at school, but she had learnt that more of them came for her when it was the summer holidays. It wasn't till she was nine that she realised that less attacks happened when she had spent time socialising with the younger kids in the neighbourhood (which was probably why so few attacks happened while she was at school).

When the summer holidays came to an end, and the new school year began, Aileen would be heading off to secondary school. For the first time since she could remember she wouldn't be going to school with Dudley. Vernon wanted his son to follow his own footsteps so he was being sent to the private school Smeltings with his best friend Piers Polkiss. Aileen, however wasn't worth the money of a 'decent, good education' so she was being sent to the local Stonewall High. Aileen didn't mind too much since the local primary school was located next to the primary school so they had better access to it.

Unfortunately Dennis, Malcom and Gordon, the last three members of Dudley's gang, would also be going to Stonewall. She was hoping that without Dudley's influence they would mellow out and stop bullying. They had already started to distance themselves from Dudley; probably because the last time they had tried beating up a kid she had gotten the three of them in trouble with their parents (it was one of the rare times when they didn't have Dudley's protection). Their parents had finally stepped in and shown the boys that their actions had consequences. She was hopping that there realisation wouldn't wear off before the summer ended.

Mid-July, Petunia decided to take Dudley to start doing his school shopping even though he wouldn't need it for another two months and he would probably get taller between now and then (and maybe even wider). While they were gone, Aileen had been sent to Mrs. Figgs.

Aileen found out she'd broken her leg tripping over one of her cats. Aileen had been trying to convince Mrs Figg to send her cats to other, loving homes, for the last four years. She didn't have to keep them all, especially now she was getting on in years, and Mrs Figg couldn't look after all those cats adequately – evidenced by the fact that she needed Aileen's help. It seemed that her fall did Mrs Figg some good and Aileen spend the day helping her set up a site to legally sell her cats off too loving families: the old lady had already signed and sent off the paper work in order to do so. it meant that Mrs Figg would only keep her favourite (an old boy by the name of Franzic) and a couple of kittens (most probably so that she could bread more and well as taking them off the streets so that she could continue with the raising and then selling of cats until she felt like she couldn't continue doing so).

After dinner, Dudley paraded his new uniform (that he would probably never get to wear to school) around the living room. Much to Aileen's horror, Smeltings boys wore maroon tailcoats, orange knickerbockers (which were once very fashionable trousers that very few, modern-day, people could pull off), and flat straw hats called boaters. They also carried knobbly sticks, used for hitting each other while the teachers weren't looking. This was supposed to be good training for later in life, although Aileen couldn't see what good that training would do. From what she could tell this school seemed more suited for raising criminals then well-educated young men – however she was reserving judgement until the next summer holidays because Vernon didn't count as evidence to either criminal or well-educated.

As he looked at Dudley in his new knickerbockers, Vernon said gruffly that is was the proudest moment of his life. Petunia burst into tears and said she couldn't believe it was her Ickle Dudleykins, he looked so handsome and grown-up. Aileen had just blinked once, completely horrified by the colours of Smelting's chosen uniform. She was sure that the cloths would have looked fine if they had been in browns or greens but orange was completely wrong. However she was so used to controlling her facial muscles and original reactions to things that she just continued on preparing dinner with only a slight horrified pause to give her away.

The next morning, Aileen headed into the kitchen to make breakfast and was forced to open a window in an attempt to remove the horrible smell that was originating from a metal tub that Petunia had dumped in the sink. Once there was fresh air circulating through the kitchen, Aileen looked to find that the tub had some of Dudley's old cloths floating in the grey water.

"Ma'am, what's that in the tub?" Aileen inquired of Petunia when she handed over her morning tea. Normally, Aileen was the one who dealt with sowing, repairing and dying fabrics. It was odd for Petunia to do it herself instead of just ordering Aileen around.

Petunia's lips tightened and her hands twitch as though she wanted to hit her. Aileen didn't often dare to purposefully break one of the Dursley's rules, so she rarely asked questions. The few times she had done so (normally regarding clarification about what they wanted) Petunia would always react in the same way, but she had never actually got to hit her for asking. It was why, when she did have a question she needed to ask, she always asked Petunia because Vernon would have hit her, no matter what the question had been.

"Your new school uniform," she said tightly, grabbing her tea cup and blowing on it gentle.

"I thought the Stonewall school uniform was black? Not grey." Aileen said softly with a raised eyebrow. The water had been the wrong colour for Petunia to have used the right coloured die.

"Don't be stupid," snapped Petunia. "I'm dying some of Dudley's old things black for you. It'll look just like everyone else's when I've finished."

Aileen seriously doubted this, but knew better then to argue. Her primary school had also had a black school uniform, but it had looked more like pieces of old elephant skin because the die was faded and the cloths too big. Luckily, Aileen had gotten good with adapting cloths in order to salvage the situation and stop the detentions from being 'scruffy and out of uniform'. The uniform rules where more strict in high school, and she had no doubt that there would be bully from older students (or more fortunate students). At least she would probably make some friends, since there was one or two people who didn't care what she looked like (much in the same way that she didn't care how other people looked) without the interferences of Dudley.

When Dudley and Vernon where risen by the smell of breakfast, they shot a disgusted look to the sink when the smell of the dye overpowered the smell of bacon. Vernon began his normal routine of 'reading' the newspaper so that he could have 'educated' conversations with his work colleagues. Dudley sat down, banging his walking stick and demanding food. He had started carrying it around everywhere with him.

As she was placing the plates of food on the table, the click of the mail slot sounded, alerting her to the fact that mail had been posted. Before she could move to go and get it, Vernon spoke.

"Get the mail, Dudley," said Vernon from behind his paper.

"Make the freak get it." Dudley whined.

"Freak, get the mail."

Aileen dodged the Smelting stick Dudley swung her way, pleased that his father had listened to him and ordered the 'freak' around, and went to get the now and then, Vernon felt the need to reassure Aileen of her place in the family, so he would pull small little things like that at breakfast. It was to remind Aileen that she was nothing better than a servant to the family, and she was to do exactly what they said.

Lying on the doormat was a small stack of paper. The first was obviously a postcard – which Aileen flipped over to discover it was from Marge (Vernon's horrid sister) who was taking a two week vacation on the Isle of White. The next was a brown envelope that had the distinct look of the bills that Vernon got delivered once a month. Since the electricity bill had come the week before, Aileen assumed that this one was probably the water bill. The final letter made Aileen pause a moment before she picked it up. It was a letter for her.

She had never gotten a letter before. She had no one to write to, and outside of school, no one knew about her, so no one had a reason to write to her. Yet her it was. A letter, with her name on it, addressed in such an unusual manor that it couldn't have been Dudley playing a cruel prank on her.

Miss. A. Potter

The Cupboard under the Stairs

4 Privet Drive

Little Whinging

Surrey

Even the envelope itself was odd. It was thick and heavy, reminding her of the description of parchment that Britain used to use before they developed a way of making the cheaper paper that they used today. She didn't even know that places still existed that sold parchment, nor could she think of anyone who would waste the money on sending her a letter written with it. Turning it over, she found no stamp, or return address. Instead, it was sealed with a purple wax seal which boar a coat of arms. Tracing the lion, eagle, badger and snake that surrounded a large letter H with her figure, Aileen had the odd feeling like she had been pulled back in the 1500s when English nobles and knights sealed their letters with their coats of arms as a sign of their wealth and station.

"Hurry up, freak!" shouted Vernon from the kitchen. "What are you doing, checking for letter bombs?" He chuckled at his own joke.

Aileen went back to the kitchen, knowing she didn't have the time to loiter in the hallway any longer without risking Vernon getting up to investigate. She handed Vernon the bill and the postcard, moved to the kitchen, and opened the yellow envelope as quickly and as quietly as she could.

Vernon ripped open the bill, snorted in disgust, and flipped over the postcard.

"Marge's ill," he informed Petunia. "Ate a funny whelk..."

"Dad!" said Dudley suddenly. "Dad, the Freak's got something!"

Aileen had unfolded the letter, which was written on the same type of parchment as the envelope, when it was jerked sharply out of her hand by Vernon and she found herself on the floor on the other side of the room. Her anger rising when she realised that not only had Vernon stolen from her but he had just thrown her clear across the room for absolutely no reason (not that he ever had one to begin with).

"Who'd be writing to you?" Vernon sneered down at her.

Vernon shook the letter open with one hand and glanced at it. His face went from red to green faster than a set of traffic lights. And it didn't stop there. Within seconds it was the grey-ish white of old porridge.

"P-P-Petunia!" he gasped.

Dudley tried to reach across the table to steal the letter, but Vernon held the letter away from his son while Petunia reached to grab it. Curious to what had scared her husband so much Petunia hadn't even reached the second line when she paled, clutched her throat and started making a choking noise.

"Vernon! Oh my goodness - Vernon!"

They stared at each other, seeming to have forgotten that Aileen and Dudley were still in the room. Dudley wasn't used to being ignored. He gave his father a sharp tap on the head with his Smelting stick.

"I want to read that letter," he said loudly.

"I believe that I should be the one reading it," said Aileen in a forced calm voice as she was bursting with anger on the inside, as she got to her feet. "After all, the letter was addressed to me and it is illegal for you to withhold my mail."

"Get out, both of you," croaked Vernon, stuffing the letter back inside its envelope to prevent anyone from reading it.

Aileen didn't move, nor did Dudley.

"Let me see it!" demanded Dudley.

"No, not until I see my letter." Aileen said defiantly for the first time in years. Right now she was far to annoyed to think about how her behaviour would get her in trouble later.

"OUT!" roared Vernon, and he took Aileen by the scruff of the neck cutting off her oxygen supply and threw her into the hall; Aileen felt a twang of pain from her last beating and that got worse when Dudley kicked her in the ribs to vent his anger because he had to follow Aileen out.

Vernon slammed the kitchen door behind them. Dudley promptly lent against the door to listen in on his parent's conversation. Aileen moved round to the living room and listened to what was being said from there.

"Vernon," Petunia was saying in a quivering voice, "look at the address-how could they possibly know where she sleeps? You don't think they're watching the house?"

"Watching-spying-might be following us," muttered Vernon wildly, his voice sounded crazed along with is words. Aileen frowned, if the people who had sent the letter had known where she slept, why didn't they come and investigate? It wasn't normal for young girls to sleep in small cramped spaces under the stairs.

"But what should we do, Vernon? Should we write back? Tell them we don't want-"

Aileen could hear Vernon's shiny black shoes squeaking on the lamented floor as he was pacing up and down the kitchen. It was something he rarely did, because he was easily exhausted, but he seemed to be so angry, frustrated and scared of what that letter said, of what that letter means, that he obviously felt the need to move while thinking about the best cause of action.

"No," he said finally. "No, we'll ignore it. If they don't get an answer...Yes, that's best...we won't do anything..."

"But-" Petunia tried protesting weakly but was cut off by her angry husband.

"I'm not having one in the house, Petunia! Didn't we swear when we took her in we'd stamp out that dangerous nonsense?"

That evening when he got back from work, Vernon did something he'd never done before; he visited Aileen in her cupboard without the intention of beating her.

Aileen said nothing as she watched Vernon struggle to get his shoulders and head in the small space she called a bedroom. Once he had given up he huffed and turned his beady blue eyes on her and he seemed to force a smile on his face but it came across more as a grimace of pain.

"Err, Aileen - about this cupboard. Your aunt and I have been thinking...you're really getting a bit big for it...we think it might be nice if you moved into Dudley's second bedroom."

"Why?" Aileen question suspiciously, her eyes narrowing slightly. The Dursleys wouldn't have just given her something like her own room without a motive. Surely the knowledge that someone knew she was sleeping the room couldn't have been enough to have her moved into an actual room? There was something else, something that threatened Vernon to make him act like this.

"Don't ask questions!" snapped Vernon. "Take this stuff upstairs, now." With that he retreated from her room, indicating that the discussion was over and he expected her to move.

The Dursley's lived in a standard four bedroom house, Petunia had inherited from her parents who had always wanted more than two children, just as Petunia had wanted more biological children. Instead, one room was for Petunia and Vernon, one was for guests (normally Vernon's despicable older sister, Marge), another was Dudley's 'sleeping room' and finally the last was Dudley's 'toy room'. Vernon and Petunia had brought Dudley so many things – most of which had never been used more than once, if at all – that he needed someone where to store it all other than his room because of the sheer volume of it. It didn't help that Petunia had an aversion to throwing things out.

It only took Aileen one trip upstairs to move everything she owned from the cupboard to this room (most of which consisted of hand-me-down cloths and old school note books that she had filled with work and drawings).

Dudley's second bedroom (because she doubted that she would ever think of it as her own) was covered with junk. There was the video-camera from Dudley's birthday, a broken television, a large birdcage, a bent air rifle, a toy tank, a box of Lego and various other such things piled high on the bed, desk and floor. The only things that didn't look broken, used or otherwise damaged was the several long shelves of books (from children's stories, to work books, to fiction) which appeared to have never been touched.

From downstairs came the sound of Dudley bawling at his mother as he was told that Aileen had been given his second bedroom, "I don't want _it_ in there...I need that room...make _it_ get out..."

Aileen sighed and started cleaning the room a bit (she had Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and because of the way the Dursley's treated her she simple worked her energy into doing the chores because her fidgeting and lack of concentration had gotten her in trouble when she was younger, before she had learnt how to control it to a degree). She started by boxing the broken toys which she would take to the skip at a later date and placing everything else in three different stacks: sellable, (potential) medical and educational.

Yesterday she'd have liked being up here. Today she'd rather be back in her cupboard with that letter than up here without it. However before Vernon had been able to take the letter from her she had been able to read a little bit of it:

HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

Headmaster: ALBUS DUMBLEDORE

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Miss. Potter,

Despite being told that magic didn't exist for most of her life Aileen believed that it did. She was attacked by monsters from Greek mythology, and she had met a god, so she was aware that the goddess Hecate was real and so therefore assumed that a magical world could feasibly exist as well. Because of this, it was not a far stretch of her imagination to assume she had magic (especially considering the odd things that had happened around her which she couldn't logically explain such as appearing on the school roof and turning her teaches wig blue) and someone could come and take her away from the Dursleys. The letter was addressed to the cupboard under the stairs, surely someone would have noticed that and thought it to be suspicious, especially if she didn't reply?

The following morning, as Aileen served breakfast, was very quiet. Dudley was in shock. He'd screamed, whacked his father with his Smelting stick, been sick on purpose, kicked his mother, and thrown his tortoise through the greenhouse roof, and he still didn't have his room back. If Aileen had grown up with her own parents she doubted that they would have let her get away with such behaviour when she was three, let alone eleven.

Vernon and Petunia kept looking at each other darkly as though they were expecting something 'weird, freakish and abnormal' to happen.

When the mail arrived, Vernon,who seemed to be trying to keep Aileen away from the mail, made Dudley go and get it. They heard him banging things with his Smelting stick all the way down the hall in protest at being made to do one of the freaks jobs.

Then he shouted (rather foolishly), "There's another one: 'Miss. A. Potter, The Smallest Bedroom, 4 Privet Drive-'"

With a strangled cry, Vernon leapt from his seat and ran down the hall, Aileen right behind him but his bulk stop her from diving in front of him. Vernon had to wrestle Dudley to the ground to get the letter from him, which was made difficult by the fact Aileen had grabbed Vernon around the neck from behind and was skilfully climbing over him and to Dudley (and more importantly the letter).

After a minute of confused fighting in which everyone got hit a lot by the Smelting stick (Dudley didn't have any control with that weapon) Vernon straightened up, gasping for breath, with Aileen's letter clutched in his hand.

"Go to your cupboard-I mean, your bedroom," he wheezed at Aileen. "Dudley-go-just go."

Aileen paced round her new room. Someone knew she had moved out of her cupboard and they seemed to know she hadn't received her first letter. Surely that meant they'd try again? And this time she'd make sure they didn't fail. She had a plan.

But that night just as everyone else had gone to bed Vernon walked into her room, completely calm. Aileen had stood, with her back to the battered wardrobe the moment she heard Vernon head towards her room and not his own. Without saying anything Vernon moved towards Aileen, looking her small form up and down, his eyes clouded with an emotion that made her feel dirty. He then grabbed Aileen on either side of her arms and pushed her to the floor before straddling her hips.

* * *

Mild Trigger Warning!

* * *

Aileen curled in on herself, not moving from the floor as she stared blankly under the bed. This was not the first time that Vernon had touched her but it was the first time he had penetrated. She felt dirty and used and she knew there was nothing she could do to stop him. She was forced to stay in this house, and she couldn't fight back without hurting herself more and doing no damage to Vernon.

* * *

End of Trigger Warning!

* * *

Aileen was snapped out her mind by the alarm clock, which she had repaired, ringing at six o'clock the next morning. Aileen hurriedly turned it off so as to not wake the Dursleys andgrabbed her cloths before running to the bathroom were she silently scrubbed her body clean using the cold tap water before putting on her cloths _._ She had one goal – not waking the Dursleys.

She silently slipped down the stairs, not turning the light switch on since she knew the layout of the house well enough it wasn't need. She made sure to say light on her feet, making no sound as they landed lightly at the bottom of the steps after jumping the creaking one.

She couldn't meet the postman at the corner of Private Drive (he wouldn't hand the mail over to her since he couldn't know for saw that he was a resident of number four), instead she was going to wait in the front garden. Doing some pruning and weeding of the plants since she knew that that would be one of the chores on her list. By waiting in the front garden, she could collect and read the letter before the rest of the Dursley's were even waking up.

Trying to stay as quiet as she could, she crept across the darkened hall way to the front door.

"AAAAARRRGH!" Aileen jumpedback in shocked horror; she'd trodden on something big and squashy on the doormat. Lights clicked on upstairs, the Dursley's probably woken by the shout, and to her horror Aileen realized that the big, squashy something had been Vernon's face.

Vernon had been lying at the front door in a sleeping bag, clearly making sure that Aileen didn't do exactly what she'd been trying to do or at the very least preventing anyone else from getting the mail first. He shouted at Aileen for about half an hour and then told her to go and make a cup of coffee and Petunia added that she might as wellbegin preparing breakfast now everyone was awake.

Aileen headed to the kitchen to do as she was ordered, and by the time she got back, the mail had arrived, right into Vernon's lap. Aileen could see three letters addressed in green immediately began tearing the letters into pieces right in front of her with a vicious smile on his face.

Vernon didn't go to work that day. He stayed at home and watched as Aileen nailed up the mail slot to ensure that she was doing it properly.

"See," he explained to Petunia as he hit Aileen around the back of the head dropping a nail, "if they can't deliver them they'll just give up."

"I'm not sure that'll work, Vernon." Petunia said hesitantly, checking outside the window to make sure the neighbours hadn't seen anything suspicious. It was already odd that Vernon's car remained in the drive way, she didn't need the neighbours nosing around and asking questions she couldn't answer.

"Oh, these people's minds work in strange ways, Petunia, they're not like you and me," said Vernon, the glare he was shooting at the back of Aileen's head made it clear that he thought her thinking was abnormal.

The following day, twelve letters had been pushed into the house via the small slots along the bottom and sides of the door. Dudley got a frightful shock when he discovered some had even been pushed through the small, downstairs toilet window.

Vernon, once again, phoned in to work ill, stating that he was going to take the week off to recover. Then, he made Aileen cover what remained of the gabs in the front and back doors with wood. While she worked, Aileen kept as far away from Vernon as she could feasible manage. His control was waning and she feared that if this continued he was going to take it out on her and she wouldn't survive that.

When Saturday morning came round, things had truly gotten out of hand.

Twenty four letters crept into the house in a very unusual and inventive way: inside the eggs that the milkman had given Petunia through the living room window. Petunia had immediately shredded the letters in the food processor when they were discovered by Aileen (who had been trying to make scrambled egg and bacon for breakfast under Petunia's watchful gaze). While Aileen found something else to make for breakfast, Vernon made several furious phone calls attempting to find someone to complain too.

Aileen some point Dudley had plucked up the courage (and curiosity) to speak with Aileen with something other than a taunt on his lips: "Who on earth wants to talk to you this badly?"

"If I knew do you think they would continue trying?" Aileen responded, rolling her eyes at her cousins stupidity, before continuing to polish the ornaments that Petunia had collected over the years (including the ones that she had inherited form her mother and grandparents).

Finally, it was Sunday morning and Vernon sat down for his full English breakfast looking tied and ill, but marginally happy.

"No post on Sundays," he reminded his family cheerfully, as he started using his spoon to spear his bacon and sausage. "No damn letters today-"

As though Clotho had a bone to pick with Vernon, it was at that moment a letter came shooting out of the chimney and into the back of Vernon's head. As though this letter was the signal, an avalanche of letters suddenly came flying out of the fireplace. Aileen instinctively reached up to try and catch one while the Dursley's ducked to protect their heads.

"Out! OUT!"

Vernon seized Aileen around the waist and threw her against her old cupboard door in the hallway;Aileen tried struggled out of the man's grip, the moment he grabbed her but adrenaline had made Vernon stronger than normal. The moment he released her, she put as much distance between herself and him that she could manage in the narrow hallway.

When Petunia and Dudley had run out with their arms over their faces, Vernon slammed the door shut. They could hear the letters still streaming into the room, bouncing off the walls and floors. Aileen tried to break away from the family so she could take a look outside to find out how on earth the letters were being delivered to the chimney, but Vernon's crazed orders prevented her from doing so.

"That does it," said Vernon, trying to speak calmly but pulling great tufts out of his moustache at the same time. "I want you all back here in five minutes ready to leave. We're going away. Just pack some clothes. No arguments!"

Vernon had always had that dangerous look to Aileen and Petunia, but with half a moustache and darting eyes, he looked far more dangerous than normal. It was because of this that no one dared argue (not that Aileen would have done so anyway) and it took only ten minutes to have a few essentials packed and everyone heading out to the car after removing the boards. Dudley was sat sniffling in the back after being hit by his father for the first time in his life, Petunia sat silently in the front seat, looking petrified out the window as Vernon went speeding down the highway.

They drove. And they drove. Not stopping, or slowing down. Every now and then Vernon would take a sharp turn and drive in the opposite direction for a while.

"Shake 'em off...shake 'em off." he would mutter whenever he did this.

They only stopped briefly outside of McDonalds because Dudley had been whinnying about not having eaten anything all day, and Vernon's stomach had also reminded him of the fact that their breakfast had been interrupted. Petunia didn't touch the food that had been brought for her, so Dudley ate her lunch as well. Aileen wasn't allowed anything – which she guessed was a good think since the salt content would have probably made her throw up and then they would have all had to put up with the disgusting smell.

By nightfall Dudley was howling. He'd never had such a bad day in his life. He was hungry, he'd missed five television programs he'd wanted to see, and he'd never gone so long without blowing up an alien (or otherwise) on his computer.

Vernon finally stopped outside a gloomy-looking hotel on the outskirts of a big city. Dudley and Aileenhad to share a room with twin beds and damp, musty sheets. Dudley snored the night away but Aileen stayed awake, sitting curled up on the windowsill, staring down at the lights of passing cars and hoping…

The Dursleys ate stale cornflakes and cold tinned tomatoes on toast for breakfast the next day while Aileen had been given nothing because Vernon was still far too angry to think about appearances. They had just finished when the owner of the hotel came over to their table.

"'Scuse me, but is one of you Miss. A. Potter? Only I got about an 'undred of these at the front desk."She held up a letter so they could read the green ink address:

Miss A Potter

Room 17

Railview Hotel

Cokeworth

"I'll take them," said Vernon hastily as he stoodand up quickly followed her from the dining room.

"Wouldn't it be better just to go home, dear?" Petunia suggested timidly, hours later, but Vernon didn't seem to hear her.

Exactly what he was looking for, none of them knew; andAileen was pretty sure _Vernon_ didn't even know what he was looking for. He kept stopping in the most stupid or obscure places – like the middle of a field – getting out, looking around, shaking his head and getting back in the car with a scrawl. The number of accidents they had nearly been in was really starting to worry Aileen, and she wondered why the police hadn't pulled Vernon over for dangerous driving yet.

"Daddy's gone mad, hasn't he?" Dudley asked Petunia dully late that afternoon. He had stopped winging and winning about everything early that afternoon when Vernon had shouted at him. However with Vernon once again looking around outside the car in the pouring rain, Dudley obviously felt brave enough to complain. "It's Monday," he told his mother. "The Great Humberto's on tonight. I want to stay somewhere with a television."

Monday, the day jolted something Aileen's mind. Normally she didn't need to keep track of the days during the summer holidays, but if it was Monday (and she could count of Dudley remembering what day his TV shows were on) then it meant the following day was Tuesday and her birthday. She was to be turning eleven. Although her birthdays were never fun events (on the rare occasion someone other than her remembered it), she always celebrated it in her own way because it meant that she was one year closer to freedom.

After nearly thirty minutes, Vernon came back, dripping wet but smiling. He was also carrying a long thin package and didn't answer Petunia when she asked what he'd bought.

"Found the perfect place!" he said, "Come on! Everyone out!"

It was very cold outside the car, the wind and rain battering their bodies mercilessly. Aileen pulled her tattered shirt closer around her body in a futile attempt and keeping some of her body heat in. Vernon motioned to what looked like a large rock out to sea. He explained that he had rented out the house for three nights, and only then did Aileen realised that the blurred rock wasn't a rock at all – it was a shack. She dreaded to actually see what state it was in, but she highly doubted that it had working electricity and she wouldn't be surprised if there was damp inside the building. Why anyone would want to build a house way out there she didn't know. If it had been a lighthouse it would have made more sense but from what she could tell that was never the intention for that building.

"Storm forecast for tonight!" said Vernon gleefully, clapping his hands together. "And this gentleman's kindly agreed to lend us his boat!"

A toothless old man came ambling up to them, pointing with a rather wicked grin,at an old rowboat bobbing in the iron-grey water below them.

"I've already got us some rations," said Vernon, "so all aboard!"

It was freezing in the boat. Icy sea spray and rain crept down their necks and a chilly wind whipped their faces. Aileen was forced to row the boat and for some strange reason she found it easier than it should have been to manipulate the boat through the ranging water. Also the spray of the water did not seem to affect her, she knew that it should have been ice cold but it wasn't and she was rejuvenated at the feel of sea water on her skin.

It took nearly thirty minutes for Aileen to reach the rock and secure the boat so that the Dursley's could get out. While Aileen turned the boat upside down to prevent any more rainwater from getting in, Vernon led the way – tripping and sliding – to the house. By the time Aileen caught up with them, they had only made it half-way to the house, not use to moving in the dark or on uneven ground.

When they made it inside the house, the run-down state became more obvious. There was the strong smell of seaweed, wind whistled through gaps in the walls, there was several damp patches from holes in the ceiling and the fireplace (the only source of light or heat) was damp and empty of any source of fire.

The house consisted of two rooms. One which had evidently been the living room, and there was a small section of to the side that looked to have been designed for the kitchen, and the other room was the bedroom with an on-suit bathroom which had never been furnished. The only things left in the house was a run-down and broken sofa, and a four poster mattress without the bed.

In his own infinite wisdom, Vernon's rations were a bag of crisps and a banana each. Aileen – as was normal and to be expected – wasn't allowed her own 'ratios' instead they were given to Dudley. Aileen was surprised that Vernon had even brought four sets – although she supposed it was more of his own 'emotional manipulation' to buy it, show her and then deny her when he knew that Aileen hadn't eaten anything in three days. Petunia would make him give her something soon 'to prevent her from collapsing and allowing her to continue to put the freak to use', although how good that argument would do while they were running from letters she didn't know.

Noting the families cold shivers and the lack of acceptable blankets Vernon tried using his lighter (which he kept on his person at all times although he wasn't a smoker because his bosses where). However, the crisp packets were designed to not be flammable, so they just let of a puff of acidic smoke before shrivelling up.

"Could do with some of those letters now, eh?" he said cheerfully, not letting the failed attempt at warming his family up deter him from his happy mood. He was obviously pleased with himself, thinking that nothing and no one would be able to find them on the abandoned rock so they wouldn't be pestered by letters in the morning. Although Aileen agreed that the chances of being found her minimal, she held up that they would still be able to track them down but this time they would send a person so that Vernon would have no choice but to let or go, or the person would notice her appalling lack of care.

As night fell, the rain turned into the storm that had been promised. The waves were high enough to spay the hut walls, and the wind fierce enough to rattle the filthy windows and whistle on its way down the chimney.

Petunia found a few mouldy blankets in the second room and made up a bed for Dudley on the moth-eaten sofa. She and Vernon went off to the lumpy mattress next door, and Aileen was left to find the softest (and driest) bit of floor she could and curl up with only the cloths on her back to keep her warm. Aileen figured the blankets Petunia had found would probably be off better use burning in the fireplace as opposed to under Dudley's bulky weight.

The storm raged more and more ferociously as the night went on. Aileen couldn't sleep. Normally, when there was a storm, she felt comfortable, safe, and was able to fall asleep relatively quickly but this night something was keeping her awake. She was cold and hungry but that was nothing unusual so she just pushed the thoughts to the side and started drawing in the dust in the hopes of tiring out her over-active mind.

Dudley's snores were drowned by the low rolls of thunder that started near midnight but Aileen couldn't see any flashes of lightning through the cracks in the wall so assumed this was the work of Poseidon's anger (which didn't comfort her at all since they were on a rock in the sea). The lighted dial of Dudley's watch, since she could not see the watch that rested on her wrist (it was one of Dudley's old ones which didn't light up) _,_ which was dangling over the edge of the sofa on his fat wrist, told Aileen she'd be eleven in ten minutes time. She lay and watched her birthday tick nearer, wondering where the letter writer was now.

Five minutes to go. Aileen heard something creak outside. She hoped the roof wasn't going to fall in, although, she thought bitterly, she might be warmer if it did.

Four minutes to go. Maybe the house in Privet Drive would be so full of letters when they got back that she'd be able to steal one somehow. Although what she would do once she had the letter, she didn't know. She had no way of responding to the letter, nor did she had access to the house phone to use any contact number that they may provide. So, even if she did get her hands on the letter it would do nothing more than starve of her curiosity of what it contained (and probably spick her curiosity one what it meant).

Three minutes to go. Was that the sea, slapping hard on the rock like that? And (two minutes to go) what was that funny crunching noise? Was the rock crumbling into the sea?

One minute to go and she'd be eleven.

Thirty seconds...twenty...ten...nine – perhaps she could go and look around for some non-important pieces of wood - three...two...one...

BOOM.

The whole shack shivered and Aileen sat bolt upright, staring at the door. Someone was outside, knocking to come in.

Word count: 7472

Copied: 1,744

Edited: 01/05/2017


	3. Chapter 3: Introducing WW Edited

Okay, lets start with: I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER. I'm just happily playing in JK's sand box. I DON'T OWN PERCY JACKSON either. I'm only allowed to play on the swing sets (pouts).

So, the next thing on my list of things to put on the top of this story: I've used a lot of the book structure of the first four years. By this I mean Aileen will be face a troll, save a dragon, go down the third floor, be blamed for opening the chamber, reveal her parseltongue abilities in the dueling club, save Ginny and kill the basilisk, and confront Sirius at the end of third year. Aileen will also be entered into the goblet, however she will be complete the tasks completely differently to Harry. If you don't like stories that do this then this isn't the story for you. Although I divert most majorly from the story line after book four, there are points through the first four years were Aileen dose something that Harry would never do because that is the way I've portrayed my character.

And finally, I have heavily edited the first twenty four chapters. You need to re-read the entire story to understand what happens after that point because it all ties together. By heavily edited, I mean nearly 40% of my story has completely been re-written. There is better characterization, more realistic sword skills and a little bit more on the emotional explanation of my character.

* * *

Chapter 3: Introducing the World of Magic

The knock sounded again. This time loud enough to wake Dudley from his deep slumber.

"Where's the cannon?" he looked around wildly, as though he was actually expecting someone to be firing cannon-balls at a little hut out to sea in the middle of a storm.

The next crash, came not from the front door, but from the bedroom where Vernon came waddling out holding a rifle in his hands. Aileen tried to hide her small form as much as possible from the eye line of the shot gun (which he was carelessly brandishing about). She doubted that Vernon had ever held a gun before, let alone aimed or fired one.

"Who's there?" Vernon tried to shout but his voice came out slightly slurred from suddenly being woken up as he stared suspiciously at the door. "I warn you — I'm armed!"

The person knocking at the door stopped with the sound of voices. The pause was long enough that Vernon stopped brandishing the gun and let out a relieved breath. However, he relaxed too soon because from the door there came an almighty _CRASH!_ as the door was knocked off its hinges.

Outlined in the doorway was a giant. He stooped down to the doorway's height, his bulk obscuring the rest of the world from view. Aileen nearly drew her sword thinking one of the monsters had finally found her while in the presence of her relatives since they were not in the safety of the four Privet Drive.

However before she could grab the sword, and make a fall out of herself she had learnt 'normal' people couldn't actually see the sword, a flash of light caught the giant's face from one of the windows as he entered the hut. The man's face – for it was obviously a man now that she had been able to see his face – was completely covered by a mane of wild hair. Although she had never heard of a man who stood taller than seven feet, it wasn't the weirdest thing she had ever seen or heard about so she wasn't too suspicious – monsters tended to take on the guise of normal humans and not someone who stood out as obviously as this man did. With that thought, she hoped that he had been sent by 'Headmaster Dumbledore' and that he could explain magic to her and what that actually meant.

Once the man had forced himself into the hut – which now looked comically small compared to his height – he picked the door up and stood it back in the frame to help block out the storm that had attempted to blow into the hut. Finally, he turned to look at Vernon and Petunia who were cowering in the corner, Vernon still armed with his shot gun, and said something rather unexpected after his dramatic entrance:

"Couldn't make us a cup o' tea, could yeh? It's not been an easy journey…"

Aileen had to contain her laughter at how very stereo-typically British that was: he had had a hard day and he asked for a calming cup of tea. Although whisky was normally the gentleman's drink of choice she supposed that he was smart enough to assume that the family hiding out on a rock out to sea wouldn't have taken the time to buy something as expensive as whisky, or he just preferred a cup of tea.

The man ambled over to the mouth ridden sofa where Dudley was still sat frozen on his equally mouth ridden blankets. Dudley's mouth was slightly dropped open as he stared up at the looming figure. This man was probably the scariest thing that Dudley had ever seen outside of a movie or game.

"Budge up, yeh great lump," the stranger order, making as though to sit on the sofa.

Dudley squeaked like a mouse, and moving faster than his size belayed, ran to seek the protection of his mother, who in turn was cowering behind Vernon. Aileen had never seen her act in such fear before and she was pretty certain the women could see the monsters. On the rare occasions she was out with Petunia (normally grocery shopping) the women would hurry her along, or go in the opposite direction to the monsters.

"An' here's Aileen!" said the man happily. Aileen looked up into the fierce, wild, shadowy face and saw that he had kind beetle eyes that were crinkled in a smile, which she could only just make out through the man's thick, wild, mane of hair."Las' time I saw you, you was only a baby," he said. "Yeh look a lot like yer mum, but yeh've got yer dad's hair."

Vernon made a funny rasping noise. "I demand that you leave at once, sir!" he said. "You are breaking and entering!" he brandished the gun about and Aileen took a step back – out of his line of fire once again.

"Ah, shut up, Dursley, yeh great prune," said the man; much to Aileen's relief and surprise he reached back over the sofa and snatched the gun out of Vernon's suddenly limp hands. With deceptive ease, the giant man bent the gun into a knot as though it had been made of rubber and not metal. With the gun now useless, Vernon made another funny noise, like a rodent being trodden on. Aileen was quite impressed with the show of strength that the man had just shown – only a couple of the monsters she had faced can claim to have similar or greater strength. She had been lucky that normally when the monsters where strong, they were also normally stupid.

"Anyway — Aileen," said the man, turning his back on the Dursleys and ignoring their presence for the time being, "a very happy birthday to yeh. Got summat fer yeh here — I mighta sat on it at some point, but it'll taste all right."

From an inside pocket of his black overcoat he pulled a slightly squashed box. Being careful not to drop it with her shaking hands, Aileen brought the first gift she had ever received closer to her. She had never received a birthday gift before, nor had she been expecting to receive one this year. The fact that this complete stranger, not only knew when her birthday was, but had gone through the hassle of getting her something was surprising, humbling and very kind. Inside was a large, sticky chocolate cake with 'Happy Birthday Aileen'written on it in green icing.

Aileenlooked up at the man,and smiled shyly."Thank you, it looks wonderful" Aileen said softly before putting the cake down with the lid on to protect it from the dust (and Dudley who was eyeing the box hungrily). She knew her manners where more important than any of the many questions she had stored in her mind. Because she knew that to ask questions was forbidden. However, since this man had gifted her something (something the Dursleys had always forbidden him) she was hoping he would be more forgiving in answering her questions. "Butif you don't mind me asking, who are you?"

The man chuckled, and Aileen relaxed slightly having automatically tensed with the expectation of being punished. "True, I haven't introduced me self. Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts." He held out an enormous hand and shook Aileen's whole arm. "What about that tea then, eh?" he said, rubbing his hands together. "I'd not say no ter summat stronger if yeh've got it, mind."

"We don't have the means of making tea, sir. We left in a hurry." Aileen explained softly.

Hagrid's eyes flicked to the empty fireplace which held nothing but the empty and previously smoking chip bags. He snorted in disgust, before leaning forward and obscuring the fireplace from Aileen's eyes. She wasn't sure what he did, but when the man leaned back there was a roaring fire blazing.

Just this one fire was enough to bring warmth to the whole hut, turning the glooming grey inertia a more pleasing orange. Aileen instinctively drew closer to the warmth, something that the Dursley's had regularly denied her by locking her outside the house. But even as she got closer to the fire and, consequently the man, she didn't fail to drop her guard as she kept a wary eye on Hagrid who was still a stranger to her even if he had not her when she was a baby (and probably her parents as well).

He was from Hogwarts, the school of magic who had been sending her letters for the last five days. Maybe this man held some answers, to not only what was happening, but also, to what and who she was. Perhaps he could even teach her how to make fire so that she could keep warm (if setting the fire could be contained off-course).

Hagrid relaxed back against the sofa, it's aged barring drooping under his weight. Obviously having come prepared, he started taking out things from his pocket's in order to make tea and some snakes: a kettle (one of those old copper ones that were designed to be heated over an open fire), a link of sausages, a squire to hold the meat over the fire, a teapot, tea leaves, two chipped mugs and a bottle of amber liquid which she identified as being scotch since he had been smart enough to remove the label before drinking it in front of children (she could only tell from the times she had poured her uncle a drink). With each new item, Aileen's eyebrow rose in height because it appeared as though the man's pockets, like the Doctor's from the TV series 'Doctor who', were bigger on the inside. Although why he was carrying around things to make tea and sausages for two people, she didn't know. It didn't seem like a normal, or expected thing to be doing, unless the man anticipated having to camp somewhere without access to a hotel or food. Which considering his baring wasn't completely impossible.

Hagrid quickly had the hut filled with the sound and smell of sizzling sausage. The Dursley's family were silenced in their fear, while Aileen had no reason to say anything so she also stayed silent. As Hagrid placed the sausages on a plate that he pulled from his pocket, Dudley shifted a little behind his mother. He hadn't eaten a lot of food that day compared to what he would normally eat, and the smell of sausage was making his stomach grumble in hunger, despite the tight grip Petunia had on his shoulder to prevent him from getting any closer to Hagrid.

Vernon said sharply, "Don't touch anything he gives you, Dudley."

Hagrid chuckled darkly. "Yer great puddin' of a son don' need fattenin' anymore, Dursley, don' worry." He passed the sausages to Aileen, who hesitantly took one to nibble on _; s_ he didn't take her deep see green eyes off the man though. She appreciated the food – she always did – but this man probably held the answers to the questions she had being building over the years but had never had anyone willing to answer. However, he didn't appear to want to start talking and explaining his presence without some kind of prompt from her.

"I'm sorry sir, but I'm still don't really know who you are?" Aileen asked hesitantly, unsure how the man would react to the knowledge that she didn't know anything about her parents, let alone the wizarding world since he had spoken like she should have understood these things when he introduced himself.

The man took a gulp of tea and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Call me Hagrid," he said, "everyone does. An' like I told yeh, I'm Keeper of Keys at Hogwarts — yeh'll know all about Hogwarts, o' course."

"I'm sorry, but I don't know anything about Hogwarts sir." Aileen said quietly, the apologies slipping from her lips without any thought as Hagrid's kind face morphed into one of shock. In her life, shock quickly turned to anger, which was normally followed by a punishment of some sort if she didn't defuse the situation (normally by taking the blame and apologising).

"Sorry?" barked Hagrid, turning to stare at the Dursleys, who shrank back into the shadows. "It's them who should be sorry! I knew yeh weren't gettin' yer letters but I never thought yeh wouldn't even know abou' Hogwarts, fer cryin' out loud! Did yeh never wonder where yer parents learned it all?"

"All what?" Aileen said,her voice barely above a whisper hoping not to anger the man anymore but needing to finally get answers to the questions she had been ignoring for years. She wasn't meant to ask questions, but she had other things to worry about then Vernon's rules.

"ALL WHAT?" Hagrid thundered. "Now wait jus' one second!" He had leapt to his feet. In his anger he seemed to fill the whole hut.

The Dursleys were cowering against the wall and Aileen stepped closer to the fire, where there was a crevice in the wood, so that she was out of harm's way. At the minute Hagrid seemed far more focused on the Dursleys then on her, and she wanted to keep it that way by making herself as small as possible. It was a technique she had learnt when she was a kid – if she angered the monsters and then made herself small, they wouldn't be able to find her because they were too blinded by their rage to attempt to smell her or look probably with their eyes. She could then trigger one of the traps she had set up beforehand.

"She knows nothingabout my world, your world,"Hagrid turned to Aileen when he said 'your world' implying that there was a second world beside the one her aunt and uncle lived in, and that was the 'world' that she was supposed to have grown up knowing about. Aileen made the assumption that that world was the world of magic, based off the evidence that she had already gathered. "My world, yer parents' world _?_ "

"What worldare you talking about?" Aileen asked hesitantly not wanting this man to turn his anger on her.

Hagrid looked as if he was about to explode as he swung back around to face Vernon. "DURSLEY!" he boomed.

Vernon, who had gone very pale, whispered something that sounded like "Mimblewimble." Hagrid scared him far too much for him to try and defend his actions. Aileen knew that if Hagrid went on to inform her of the things that they had hidden from her, Vernon's anger wold increase and that would make him brave.

Hagrid stared wildly at Aileen. "But yeh must know about yer mom and dad," he said. "I mean, they're famous. You're famous."

"But, my mothercouldn't have been famous, I would have known, wouldn't I?" Aileen asked shocked, not even registering the part about her dad. To her, her dad was Poseidon who she knew to be famous, her mother's husband was 'father' to her and that distinction was something that she had been making for so many yeas that it was habit now.

"Yeh don' know… yeh don' know…" Hagrid ran his fingers through his hair, fixing Aileen with a bewildered stare. He sounded like the thing Aileen didn't know was fundamental knowledge to him. Like to not know was a completely alien concept to him. "Yeh don' know what yeh are?" he said finally.

As Aileen had predicted, the threat of Aileen being informed was too much for Vernon and he suddenly found his wits (or rather, his voice).

"Stop!" he commanded. "Stop right there, sir! I forbid you to tell the girl anything!"

A braver man than Vernon Dursley would have quailed under the furious look Hagrid now gave him; when Hagrid spoke, his every syllable trembled with rage.

"You never told her? Never told her what was in the letter Dumbledore left fer her? I was there! I saw Dumbledore leave it, Dursley! An' you've kept it from her all these years?"

"What did they keep from me and what do you mean you were there? Were you there the night I was left on their doorstep?" Aileen asked softly, trying to get answers and calm Hagrid down at the same time. By redirecting him from Vernon, she was hoping to prevent murder.

"STOP! I FORBID YOU!" yelled Vernon in panic.

Petunia gave a gasp of horror.

"Ah, go boil yer heads, both of yeh," said Hagrid, waving a dismissing hand at the Dursley's before turning back to Aileen and finally stating – bluntly – what all the fuss was about. "Aileen — yer a witch."

There was silence inside the hut. Only the sea and the whistling wind could be heard.

"But they don't exist, magic isn't real." Aileen said, deciding to not explain how she had already figured that magic might exist; hoping that he would be able to explain it to her encase she got something wrong in her abduction.

"O' course it does. And you're a witch, just like your parents," said Hagrid, sitting back down on the sofa, which groaned and sank even lower, "an' a thumpin' good 'un, I'd say, once yeh've been trained up a bit. With a mum an' dad like yours, what else would yeh be? An' I reckon it's abou' time yeh read yer letter."

Aileen placed her half eaten sausage next to the rest and gently took the yellowish envelope, addressed in emerald green, just like all the ones before it. Just as before, the address was oddly specific:

Miss A Potter,

The Floor,

Hut-on-the-Rock,

The Sea

She pulled out the letter. She had already read the introduction. The rest of the letter was just informing her that she had been accepted at the school, and that they were 'awaiting her owl'. Another named was signed at the bottom: the deputy headmistress, Minerva McGonagall.

Questions exploded inside Aileen's head like fireworks and she couldn't decide which to ask first. After a few minutes she settled on what appeared to be the most important and pressing at the time, "What does it mean, they await my owl?"

"Gallopin' Gorgons, that reminds me," said Hagrid, clapping a hand to his forehead with enough force to knock over a cart horse, and from yet another bigger-on-the-insidepocket ofhis overcoat he pulled an owl — a real, live, rather ruffled-looking owl — a long quill, and a roll of parchment.

Aileen frowned slightly, did the 'wizarding world' still use parchment and quill? They had been chucked out ages ago for the more efficient fountain pen, and then the cheaper biro or ball-point pen. Why hadn't they done so as well? Where they just ignorant of the developments made, or did they prefer to stick to their more traditional writing utensils? Was there a specific reason for the use of the quill – some magic that it uses? She didn't know, and she wasn't going to get the answer by standing around and staying silent, but she wasn't willing to actually verbalise some of the more mundane questions that she had thought up. She would have to actually enter the 'wizarding world' and do her own research, and experience the culture before she said anything.

Refocusing on what was happening around her, Aileen read the note Hagrid was writing upside down. Hagrid had atrocious hand-writing; chicken scratch she believed it was called. But she was used to not only reading, but also writing with appalling hand-writing because it was one of the ways she had learnt to survive with minimal emotional and physical injury. Luckily, Hagrid's handwriting was big (most likely to compensate for the fact that he was using a smaller quill then should have fit into his hand) and so she didn't have to squint too much to understand the words.

Dear Professor Dumbledore,

Given Aileen her letter.

Taking her to buy her things tomorrow.

Weather's horrible. Hope you're well.

Hagrid

Hagrid rolled up the note, gave it to the owl, which clamped it in its beak, went to the door, and threw the owl out into the storm. Then he came back and sat down as though this was as normal as talking on the telephone, which - for him - it probably was. Aileen, however, winced slightly and sent a quick pray to Athena for the owl's safe journey. She would never let an owl out in whether like that – she would have waited to the next morning – no matter how important the letter, the safety of the animal was more important to her.

"Where was I?" Hagrid questioned, stroking at his beard as he tried to recall what they had been talking about prior to the sending of his letter. However, before he could speak, Vernon angrily moved into the firelight which threw his ashen face into stark relief.

"She's not going," he said adamantly. Normally when he used such a tone in the Dursley household it meant that the subject was closed for discussion, and even Dudley knew better then to argue back. However, Hagrid wasn't remotely intimidated by her very large uncle. Which was fine for now, it meant she got her answers, but Aileen also knew (in the dark corner of her mind where she kept such facts) that she would be punished for this later.

"I'd like ter see a great Muggle like you stop her," Hagrid grunted dismissively.

""Muggle?" asked Aileen; she was interested by the unknown term that he had used and didn't think that it might have been a useless question like the previous once she had been ignoring.

"A Muggle," said Hagrid not seeming to have a problem answering what Aileen considered to be a mundane question, "it's what we call non-magic folk like them. An' it's your bad luck you grew up in a family o' the biggest Muggles I ever laid eyes on."

Aileen wasn't sure how, but Hagrid made the sentence seem double insulating. By not only calling them a 'muggle', which in the more modern use of the word (as opposed to the early English use of the word) implies that they are inferior in some way due to a lack of ability, but also by calling them the 'biggest Muggles' he had ever seen. Ever Hagrid was referring to Vernon and Dudley's literal size, or an implied lack of talent and therefore increased inferiority compared to other people.

Vernon obviously picked up that Hagrid had meant to insult him, and that he was fully intending to continue to explain everything to Aileen, because he once more built up his courage and interrupted.

"We swore when we took her in we'd put a stop to that rubbish, swore we'd stamp it out of her! Witch indeed!" Vernon finished with a scoff, refusing to believe that Aileen had retained her magical ability over the years of abuse she had suffered in response to her 'abnormality'.

"You knew I was a witch all these years and you kept it from me! You allowed me to believe… you encouraged the belief… that all those weird and unexplainable things happened because I was a freak! All this time, and there were others out there who could do it as well?" Aileen asked outraged, momentarily forgetting the punishment she would get for not only asking questions, but for speaking back to Vernon.

It seemed that Aileen wasn't the only one forgetting her place, because Petunia flushed red as she suddenly started shrieking.

"Of course I knew! What with my dratted sister being what she was? She got a letter, same as that…" Petunia pointed with a disgusted sneer at the envelope that was resting innocently next to the cold sausage. "…and then she left. Vanishing off to that school, only coming home for the Christmas and summer vacation, her pockets full of nasty things, and turning my teacups into rodents. My parents loved her, they were so proud of having a witch in the family. Only ever talking about Lily, and never me. I was ordinary, normal, nothing, compared to innocent, sweet, little Lily. But I was the only one who saw her for what she was – a freak."

Petunia paused in her rant to draw a breath. Everyone was staring at her in shock, even Hagrid who didn't know anything about the women. This was quite probably the longest time in Aileen's memory that Petunia had spent talking about her sister, and all she had uttered so far had been slurs.

"Then she met that Potter at school and they left and got married and had you, and of course I knew you'd be just the same, just as strange, just as — as —abnormal — and then, if you please, she went and got herself blown up and we got landed with you!"

Aileen's normally pale complexion suddenly dropped a few shades and she swayed slightly from the loss of blood to her head. But then it swiftly returned as devastated anger filled her. "Blown up? You told me they died in a car crash!" she knew they had been lying about how her parents died, but to find out like that…

"CAR CRASH!" roared Hagrid, jumping up so angrily that the Dursleys scuttled back to their corner having progressed forward as they ranted. "How could a car crash kill Lily an' James Potter? It's an outrage! A scandal! Aileen Potter not knowin' her own story when every kid in our world knows her name!"

"What happened to my parents? Why do you keep saying there're famous?" Aileen asked, her sad blue-y-green eyes beseeching Hagrid to tell her the truth as she drew his attention away from the cowering Dursleys.

The anger faded from Hagrid's face. He looked suddenly anxious. "I never expected this," he said, in a low, worried voice. "I had no idea, when Dumbledore told me there might be trouble gettin' hold of yeh, how much yeh didn't know."

Aileen frowned at Hagrid's awkward mumbling. How did Dumbledore know that there might be trouble notifying her? Was it because of the address given on the first envelope, and if so why hadn't they investigated? If it wasn't because of that first address, was it because he left her with the Dursleys. And if so, why hadn't he checked up on her (at least once a year, because she appreciated he might be busy) especially if he had suspected some future difficulties.

"Ah, Aileen, I don' know if I'm the right person ter tell yeh — but someone's gotta — yeh can't go off ter Hogwarts not knowin'." He threw a dirty look at the Dursleys. "Well, it's best yeh know as much as I can tell yeh — mind, I can't tell yeh everythin', it's a great myst'ry, parts of it…" He sat down, stared into the fire for a few seconds, and then said, "It begins, I suppose, with — with a person called — but it's incredible yeh don't know his name, everyone in our world knows —"

"Hagrid?"Aileen said to stop the man from rambling.

"Well — I don' like sayin' the name if I can help it. No one does."

"Why not?What's wrong with saying a name, it's not like it will summon the person?" Aileen asked in confusion. Even if this man was as bad as Hitler or Starling (which she found hard to believe), there should be no reason for people to be afraid to say his name, but it just embedded their fear of the name into the successive generations.

"Gulpin' gargoyles, Aileen, people are still scared. Blimey, this is difficult. See, there was this wizard who went… bad. As bad as you could go. Worse. Worse than worse. His name was…" Hagrid's mouth moved but no words came out.

"Could you write it down?" Aileen suggested softly, encouragingly as she noticed the struggle that Hagrid was facing. She may not have understood why, but she understood fear well enough to know that Hagrid wouldn't want to have to say it even if he felt that Aileen needed to be informed.

"Nah — can't spell it. All right —Voldemort." Hagrid shuddered.

Aileen's frowned again. This 'Voldemort' had butchered French, the language of love. Voldemort, was Vol De Mort, meaning flight of death or flight from death. How could people be afraid of a man who was himself afraid of death, the ultimate truth?

"Don' make me say it again. Anyway, this — this wizard, about twenty years ago now, started lookin' fer followers. Got 'em, too — some were afraid, some just wanted a bit o' his power, 'cause he was gettin' himself power, all right. Dark days, Aileen. Didn't know who ter trust, didn't dare get friendly with strange wizards or witches… terrible things happened. He was takin' over. 'Course, some stood up to him — an' he killed 'em. Horribly. One o' the only safe places left was Hogwarts. Reckon Dumbledore's the only one You-Know-Who was afraid of. Didn't dare try takin' the school, not jus' then, anyway." Hagrid's admiration for Dumbledore was clear in his tone as he mentioned how Voldemort didn't want to attack the school.

Aileen wasn't entirely sure what to think about that. She didn't have enough information to make a clear judgement, but she doubted that it was just Voldemort's fear of facing Dumbledore that stopped him from attaching the school. It most likely had some powerful defences around it, if it was one of the safest places left in Magical Britain at the time. Then there was also the likely chance that Voldemort went to the school when he was a child, and if he had a horrible childhood (which wasn't out of the realm of possibilities) then it was highly likely that the boarding school became his home. And if Hogwarts was his home, then he wouldn't want to destroy it by taking it by force until he was absolutely certain that he would face the least resistance. Additionally, if the man was smart, he would know that the children would be the best place to start in ensure his continued rain if he took control, and the only way he could do that would be if Hogwarts's stayed open as a school and he simply decided what to teach them.

"Now, yer mum an' dad were as good a witch an' wizard as I ever knew. Head boy an' girl at Hogwarts in their day! Suppose the myst'ry is why You-Know-Who never tried to get 'em on his side before… probably knew they were too close ter Dumbledore ter want anythin' ter do with the Dark Side. Maybe he thought he could persuade 'em… maybe he just wanted 'em outta the way. All anyone knows is, he turned up in the village where you was all living, on Halloween ten years ago. You was just a year old. He came ter yer house an' — an' —" Hagrid suddenly pulled out a very dirty, spotted handkerchief and blew his nose with a sound like a foghorn.

"Sorry," he said. "But it's that sad — knew yer mum an' dad, an' nicer people yeh couldn't find — anywa…You-Know-Who killed 'em. An' then — an' this is the real myst'ry of the thing — he tried to kill you, too. Wanted ter make a clean job of it, I suppose, or maybe he just liked killin' by then. But he couldn't do it. Ever wondered how you got that mark on yer forehead? That was no ordinary cut. That's what yeh get when a powerful, evil curse touches yeh — took care of yer mum an' dad an' yer house, even — but it didn't work on you, an' that's why yer famous, Aileen. No one ever lived after he decided ter kill 'em, no one except you, an' he'd killed some o' the best witches an' wizards of the age — the McKinnons, the Bones, the Prewetts— an' you was only a baby, an' you lived."

Something very painful was going on in Aileen's mind. As Hagrid's story came to a close, she saw it in stark clarity: the memory of the night her parents died. Her father ordering her mum to take her and run. A high cold laughter and her mums whispered words of comfort. Her mum begging for Aileen's life, then a flash of green light followed by pain. She had always dreamt of a green light, but never before had she seen the whole memory, and Aileen wished she hadn't ever remembered what happened that night.

Hagrid was watching her sadly, obviously feeling guilty with the knowledge that he had just imparted but not really understanding what was going on inside Aileen's head.

"Took yeh from the ruined house myself, on Dumbledore's orders. Brought yeh ter this lot…." Hagrid motioned to the Dursleys. It seemed that Vernon took that as his que to announce that he had his courage back because he was glaring furiously at Hagrid and his fist was clenched.

"Load of old tosh," Vernon spat angrily before rounding on Aileen. "Now, you listen here, girl," he snarled, "I accept there's something strange about you, probably nothing a good beating wouldn't cured... and as for all this about your parents, well, they were weirdoes, no denying it, and the world's better off without them in my opinion— asked for all they got, getting mixed up with these wizarding types — just what I expected, always knew they'd come to a sticky end -"

Before Vernon's litany of insults could really begin, Hagrid jumped from the sofa and drew his punk umbrella from the depths of his coat like one would a sword. He then pointed it threateningly at Vernon who flinched back.

"I'm warning you, Dursley — I'm warning you — one more word…" Hagrid warned in a furious growl.

In danger of being speared on the end of an umbrella by a bearded giant, Vernon's courage failed again; he flattened himself against the wall and fell silent.

"That's better," said Hagrid, breathing heavily and sitting back down on the sofa, which this time sagged right down to the floor. Hagrid didn't seem to notice as he stared expectantly at Aileen, obviously waiting for her to ask her questions.

Aileen hesitated only for a moment, but since Hagrid hadn't gotten angry at her yet, she decided to try and clear up some of her confusion.

"But what happened to Vol-," Hagrid flinched slightly as Aileen went to say the name, so she paused and corrected herself. "Sorry — I mean, You-Know-Who?"

"Good question, Aileen. Disappeared. Vanished. Same night he tried ter kill you. Makes yeh even more famous. That's the biggest myst'ry, see… he was gettin' more an' more powerful — why'd he go?Some say he died. Codswallop, in my opinion. Dunno if he had enough human left in him to say he's still out there, bidin' his time, like, but I don' believe it. People who was on his side came back ter ours. Some of 'em came outta kinda trances. Don' reckon they could've done if he was comin' of us reckon he's still out there somewhere but lost his powers. Too weak to carry on. 'Cause somethin' about you finished him, Aileen. There was somethin' goin' on that night he hadn't counted on — _I_ dunno what it was, no one does — but somethin' about you stumped him, all right."

Hagrid looked at Aileen with warmth and respect blazing in his eyes, but Aileen, instead of feeling pleased and proud, felt saddened. Just because some wizard decided he didn't want her parents around he killed them. And now because, for whatever reason, that wizard couldn't kill her, these people celebrated – did no one care that two people died that night and Aileen was left an orphan? How could a world celebrate a child living because they survived at the cost of their parents?

"Hagrid," Aileen said slowly, trying to form her next questions so as to not cause offense, "Who is this Dumbledore you keep mentioning? Why was I left at the Dursleys? Was there really no one who my parents trusted to take me in?"

Hagrid looked sad. "Your parents had some good friends but the Longbottom family were tortured inta' madness, a few days after your parents died. Remus Lupin, a good man, went underground no one' heard from him in a while. Peter Pettigrew was killed by their friend Sirius Black. Sirius – your godfather- was taken to Azkaban, wizard prison. There was none other close friends to your parents. Now Dumbledore, he's the headmaster of Hogwarts, used to teach transfiguration many years back. He is a very powerful man, you'll meet him when you get to Hogwarts." He explained gruffly.

Aileen nodded silently; Hagrid didn't answer the question why was she left at the Dursley's but he answered the other questions which, for now, was enough. She could research the rest of the information she needed in books and newspapers when Hagrid too her to the Wizarding World. She may not be able to get her hands on these things right away, but she had learnt patients.

However, it seemed that Vernon wasn't yet ready to give up. He had put ten years into his investment of keeping Aileen down trotted, he was going to let some giant of a man ruin all his good work.

"Haven't I told you she's not going?" he hissed. "She's going to Stonewall High and she'll be grateful for it. I've read those letters and she needs all sorts of rubbish — spell books and wands and —"

"If she wants ter go, a great Muggle like you won't stop her," growled Hagrid, his patients with the muggle interrupting and issuing orders having been spent. He came here to tell Aileen that she had been accepted at Hogwarts and take her shopping – not deal with this ignorant muggle. "Stop Lily an' James Potter's daughter goin' ter Hogwarts! Yer mad. Her name's been down ever since she was 's off ter the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world. Seven years there and she won't know herself. She'll be with youngsters of her own sort, fer a change, an' she'll be under the greatest headmaster Hogwarts ever had Albus Dumbled—"

"I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL TO TEACH HER MAGIC TRICKS!" yelled Vernon.

But he had finally gone too far. Hagrid seized his umbrella and whirled it over his head, "NEVER—" he thundered, "— INSULT — ALBUS — DUMBLEDORE — IN — FRONT — OF — ME!"

He brought the umbrella swishing down through the air to point at Dudley — there was a flash of violet light, a sound like a firecracker, a sharp squeal, and the next second, Dudley was dancing on the spot with his hands clasped over his fat bottom, howling in pain. When he turned his back on them, Aileen saw a curly pig's tail poking through a hole in his trousers. Vernon roared. Pulling Petunia and Dudley into the other room, he cast one last terrified look at Hagrid and slammed the door behind them.

Hagrid looked down at his umbrella and stroked his beard. "Shouldn'ta lost me temper," he said ruefully, "but it didn't work anyway. Meant ter turn him into a pig, but I suppose he was so much like a pig anyway there wasn't much left ter do."

He cast a sideways look at Aileen under his bushy eyebrows. "Be grateful if yeh didn't mention that ter anyone at Hogwarts," he said. "I'm — er — not supposed ter do magic, strictly speakin'. I was allowed ter do a bit ter follow yeh an' get yer letters to yeh an' stuff — one o' the reasons I was so keen ter take on the job."

"Why aren't you supposed to do magic?" asked Aileen, confused. If magic was a gift and part of them, why wouldn't Hagrid be allowed to cast magic?

"Oh, well — I was at Hogwarts meself but I — er — got expelled, ter tell yeh the truth. In me third year. They snapped me wand in half an' everything. But Dumbledore let me stay on as gamekeeper. Great man, Dumbledore." Hagrid then changed the subject, "it's gettin' late and we've got lots ter do tomorrow. Gotta get up ter town, get all yer books an' that."He took off his thick black coat and threw it to Aileen. "You can kip under that," he said. "Don' mind if it wriggles a bit, I think I still got a couple o' doormice in one o' the pockets."

Aileen blinked down at the large brown coat before lying it out on the floor and making a nest out of it. Once she was sure it was how she wanted it, Aileen curled up and brought one side of the coat over herself. Hagrid's coat was much warmer than the blanket she had stolen from the Dursleys back in her cupboard, Aileen noted before drifting off to sleep.

Aileen dreamt of her past, of when she was a baby. It seemed that the knowledge of what happened to her parents unlocked something in her mind.

 _She was being held in the arms of a beautiful woman with the same emerald eyes that Aileen sometimes appeared to have. The woman had tanned skin and flowing red hair. Aileen herself was very young, maybe six months old. With slightly chubby hands she was reaching up and trying to grab hold of the hair that was tickling her nose. The woman smiled down at her and began to speak in a soft bell like voice:_

" _There was once a magical castle, in the cold hills of Scotland surround by a forest on one side and a lake on the other with the hills behind and a village before it. This mystical castle was built more than a thousand years ago by four powerful sorcerers and sorceresses: Godric Gryffindor who was brave and chivalrous; Salazar Slytherin who was sly, sharp toughed and ambitious; Rowena Ravenclaw who was smart and wise and finally Helga Hufflepuff who was kind, generous and a healer. All four people were special for many reasons but the most important one is that they were the Champions of Hecate, Goddess of Magic. Rarely does she pick anyone to be her champion but these four brilliant people were chosen so that they could build the school to change the wizarding world."_

 _Lily Potter fell silent as she looked up and smiled at the two men who had just entered the room. The first was tall and had messy raven black hair, hazel coloured eyes and a mischievous smile. The second was even taller than the first and Aileen recognised him as the man she met in the park a few years before – Poseidon. He was tall and had messy hair as well, some might have mistaken him for a relative of the first man. But his sea-green eyes and the power that radiated from him where completely unique to him._

" _James, Poseidon," she greeted them both with a smile._

" _Love," James replied with a brilliant smile coming over and capturing Lily's lips in a kiss._

" _Lily," Poseidon greeted, his voice washing over them like a calm wave washing over the soft sand of a beach. Poseidon gently took Aileen from her mother and cradled her against his chest._

" _What story were you telling her?" James asked holding Lily as they watched Poseidon gently rock Aileen._

" _The story of the Marauders," Lily answered with a smile._

" _Then do not let us interrupt you." Poseidon said with a chuckle._

" _When the four Chosen passed on to Lord Hades' realm they made houses in their names. The house of Gryffindor, red and gold for those who were brave, proud and strong like a lion; the house of Slytherin, green and silver for those sly, cunning and ambitious like a snake; the house of Ravenclaw, purple and brown for those who value knowledge and learning and the house of Hufflepuff, yellow and black, for those kind, loyal, stubborn and hardworking like the badger. They charmed Godric's hat to be sentient so that it may choose were the next batch of students go._

 _And so the years passed and the school continued to be a place off learning for the young witches and wizards of the year. One day four pranksters, one smart girl and a quiet boy joined the new batch of students. Two of the four pranksters, Sirius Black and James Potter, met on the train which took the students to Hogwarts and were immediately friends. These two also met the smart girl and quiet boy but they soon left when there was a disagreement on which of the houses were better. You see the quite boy named Severus Snape met the smart girl, Lily Evens, many years before they came to Hogwarts and they became friends sharing stories about what they wanted to do._

 _Sirius and James met the other two pranksters on the boat that took the first years across the lake to Hogwarts. The other two pranksters were Remus Lupin who was a quiet and brilliant boy who was infected with the curse of lycanthropy meaning he turned into a werewolf, although at the time none of his friends knew; the last was Peter Pettigrew..."_

Word Count: 7572

Copied: 2,362

Edited: 05/05/2017


	4. Chapter 4: World of Magic Edited

Okay, lets start with: I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER. I'm just happily playing in JK's sand box. I DON'T OWN PERCY JACKSON either. I'm only allowed to play on the swing sets (pouts).

So, the next thing on my list of things to put on the top of this story: I've used a lot of the book structure of the first four years. By this I mean Aileen will be face a troll, save a dragon, go down the third floor, be blamed for opening the chamber, reveal her parseltongue abilities in the dueling club, save Ginny and kill the basilisk, and confront Sirius at the end of third year. Aileen will also be entered into the goblet, however she will be complete the tasks completely differently to Harry. If you don't like stories that do this then this isn't the story for you. Although I divert most majorly from the story line after book four, there are points through the first four years were Aileen dose something that Harry would never do because that is the way I've portrayed my character.

And finally, I have heavily edited the first twenty four chapters. You need to re-read the entire story to understand what happens after that point because it all ties together. By heavily edited, I mean nearly 40% of my story has completely been re-written. There is better characterization, more realistic sword skills and a little bit more on the emotional explanation of my character.

* * *

Chapter 4: The World of Magic

Aileen was pulled reluctantly from her dream by a loud tapping noise. She was used to the sharp rapping of Petunia's knuckles on the door, but Petunia hadn't been up before her in years and she felt too warm to be sleeping in her thin blanket under the stairs. With trepidation, Aileen carefully sat up and looked around herself.

Her eyes widened in realisation as the hut was revealed before her. It wasn't a dream. The storm from the night before was over, and Apollo had graced the sky with his presence and was slowing warming the early morning ground. Hagrid was still held in the arms of Morpheus, and the tapping noise which had pulled her from her dreams belong to an owl which was smartly tapping its claws on the window with a newspaper secured in its beak.

Not wishing to upset the proud bird, or wake Hagrid, Aileen carefully rose to her feet before walking to the window. It took a bit of effort to reach the latch since it was quite high for someone of her short stature. But she did managed to silently open the window and allow the owl to swoop in. Ignoring her, the owl headed straight for Hagrid, dropping its burden before heading to Hagrid's coat and attacking it.

"Please, blessed symbol of Athena, don't do that." Aileen said quietly so as to not wake Hagrid up or insult Athena (who didn't need another reason to hate her).

Aileen tried to carefully shew the owl away from the coat so she could identify what it wanted but it just snapped it's beak at her. After some careful manoeuvring Aileen was able to get access to the coat pockets which she started riffling through in an attempt to find what the owl wanted. Hagrid had many strange things inside his pockets, including slug pellets and tea bags. Eventually, Aileen pulled out a handful of strange coins that the owl tapped five times in an indication that this was what it was looking for. Aileen carefully counted out five of the bronze coins and placed them in the small pouch that the Owl presented on its leg. Finally, having been payed, the owl took of out the window.

"Just as smart as history says," Aileen whispered softly, watching the owl's swift movements as it headed back to wherever it came from.

It seemed that Hagrid was an early riser because he yawned loudly, before sitting up and stretching. Once he had gotten his barring, Hagrid turned to Aileen and offered a smile. "We'd best be'd off, Aileen, lots ter do today, gotta get up ter London an' buy all yer stuff fer school."

Aileen absently nodded her head in agreement but her mind wasn't really focused on what Hagrid was saying. The night before her emotions had been all over the place, and she hadn't really thought about how she would afford to go to a private, boarding school, let alone afford the equipment. But turning the strange wizarding coins over in her hand, that through surfaced. She didn't have a way of paying for her equipment and books.

"Hagrid?"Aileen began hesitantly, not used to speaking out about something now that the ride of emotions from the night before was gone and she could focus more acutely on the possible consequences of her words and actions.

"Mm?" Hagrid hummed in response as he pulled his boots on to his dustbin sized feet.

"How am I going to afford to pay for Hogwarts and my books and things? Vernon won't pay, you heard what he said last night." Aileen questioned, returning the money to Hagrid's coat and handing the heavy piece of clothing back to the giant.

"Don't worry about that," said Hagrid, standing up and scratching his head. "D'yeh think yer parents didn't leave yeh anything?"

"But I don't have a way to access their account. And wouldn't their things have been given to other people because of the Will?" Aileen said confused, not considering that her parents would have left her money which would then be held in trust under her name until she came to claim it.

"Dumbledore's bin looking after yer key, first stop fer us is Gringotts. Wizards' bank. Have a sausage, they're not bad cold — an' I wouldn' say no teh a bit o' yer birthday cake, neither."

"How many banks does the wizarding world have?" Aileen asked, getting the other half of the sausage she had started the night before, and pushing the cake towards Hagrid so that he could cut a slice for himself; she couldn't really eat anything sugary and especially not so early in the morning. If she wanted to avoid suspicion while at Hogwarts should would need to research how to slowly build her diet in a way that didn't make her sick. Hopefully no one would be paying close attention to what she ate anyway, but she would rather be safe than sorry.

Hagrid's words also raised more questions. If her parents had left her money, had Dumbledore had taken it into his trust, then why wouldn't he have come and discussed it with her, he knew where she was having left her with her relatives. It seemed she was going to have to make a list of questions that she wanted the headmaster to answer.

"Just the one. Gringotts. Run by goblins."

"Goblins?"Aileen asked shocked. In all the stories she had read about goblins, they had never been kind beings and they had definitely never regularly talk with the general population.

"Yeah — so yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it, I'll tell yeh that. Never mess with goblins, Aileen. Gringotts is the safest place in the world fer anything yeh want ter keep safe — 'cept maybe Hogwarts. As a matter o' fact, I gotta visit Gringotts anyway. Fer Dumbledore. Hogwarts business." Hagrid drew himself up proudly. "He usually gets me ter do important stuff fer him. Fetchin' you — gettin' things from Gringotts — knows he can trust me, see. Got everythin'? Come on, then."

Leaving the hut Aileen found that the sky was completely clear without a cloud in sight. Whatever (or whoever) had caused the storm from the night before had obviously calmed down or decided that Britain had taken enough of a battering. The boat the Dursley's had used was still resting safely on the shore, but there was no other means of travel on the small rock.

"How did you get here?" Aileen enquired when she realised there wasn't any other means for Hagrid to have gotten to the small rock without someone dropping him off, but he hadn't mentioned anyone helping him.

"Flew," said Hagrid.

"Flew?" Aileen asked shocked, a man his size had been able to fly?

"Yeah — but we'll go back in this. Not s'pposed ter use magic now I've got yeh."

Aileen turned the boat back over, pleased that she had flipped it the night before so that they didn't have to deal with removing the water from it. The small boat was a bit of a squeeze with how tall Hagrid was, but she still had more room than she did when all the Dursleys had been in the boat.

"Seems a shame ter row, though," said Hagrid, giving Aileen another of his sideways looks. "If I was ter — er — speed things up a bit, would yeh mind not mentionin' it at Hogwarts?"

"Of course not," said Aileen answered, happy to see more about what magic can achieve – especially if Hagrid had only three years of formal education. She didn't think she was ready to see the complex and probably more defined advanced magic that was sure to come with advanced training.

Hagrid pulled out the pink umbrella again, tapped it twice on the side of the boat, and they sped off toward land.

"Why would you be mad to try and rob Gringotts?" Aileen enquiredwondering what the Goblin's do to defend the people's money.

"Spells — enchantments," said Hagrid, unfolding his newspaper as he spoke. "They say there's dragons guardin' the high security vaults. And then yeh gotta find yer way — Gringotts is hundreds of miles under London, see. Deep under the ground. Yeh'd die of hunger tryin' ter get out, even if yeh did manage ter get yer hands on summat."

The rest of their boat journey was mostly spent in silence, although Aileen did ask a couple of questions about The Ministry, which Hagrid mentioned while reading the paper. The walk to the train station was decidedly odd, as Hagrid marvelled over the oddest of things such as the phone box and cars.

When they got on the train to London (which Aileen had to pay for because Hagrid didn't understand how normal money worked) Aileen fell silent once more, not wanting to draw any more attention to herself and Hagrid (who was knitting a very large piece of cloth which she couldn't identify the purpose for).

"Still got yer letter, Aileen?" Hagrid asked as he counted stitches.

Nodding her head, Aileen pulled the parchment from her pocketwhere she had made sure it was before they left the hut that morning. She didn't have very many things to call her own, and this letter was the start of a new chapter in her life, she wasn't going to lose it – especially when it contain information about what she needed.

"Good," said Hagrid. "There's a list there of everything yeh need."

Aileenunfolded the second piece of parchment that came with the letter. She had only skimmed over it briefly the night before, identifying it as a list of equipment. Now she took the time to read through it properly. There was a list of spell books, robes, gloves, potions ingredients and various other items which she assumed were necessary to ensure she was probably equipment for Hogwarts.

"Can we buy all this in London?" Aileenwondered aloud;she had never been outside of Surrey before and she doubted that the wizarding world would have their shops out in the open otherwise she would have heard about it before now (particularly from her aunt and uncle who would have complained loudly at the 'abnormal freaks taking up decent hard working people's shop space').

"If yeh know where to go," Hagrid answered mysteriously with a smile.

Hagrid was so huge that he parted the crowd easily once they made it to the streets of London; all Aileen had to do was keep close behind him. They passed bookshops and music stores, hamburger restaurants and cinemas and Aileen made a note to herself to come back to buy some better cloths if she had enough money left over and could afford it and still pay for the rest of her school things throughout the years. She didn't want to stand out too much in the wizarding world, and she was fed up of wearing Dudley's hand me downs, and wasting thread in trying to make them less bothersome.

"This is it," said Hagrid, coming to a halt, "the Leaky Cauldron. It's a famous place."

It was a tiny, grubby-looking pub that looked like it belonged back in the 1800s. If Hagrid hadn't pointed it out, Aileen would have carried on past it, just as the few people wondering the street where. Their eyes didn't even glance towards it disgust or suspicion due to the grubby exterior. Aileen had the odd feeling that only she and Hagrid could actually see the pub. Perhaps it was charmed so that non-magical people could not get in or notice it?Before she could Beforeask if her theory was right, Hagrid hadled her into the pub and Aileen wasn't able to voice her question.

The inside was just as dark, old and grubby as the outside. There was already several people inside drinking despite it not being still be quite early in the morning. The bartender was old with a slightly hunched back, without all his teeth and a bold head. The moment they entered the bar, the low chatter stopped and everyone stared for a moment before several voices called out a greeting to Hagrid. It seemed that he was a regular at the pub and well known and liked by the majority of people there.

"The usual, Hagrid?" The bartender called over all the greetings as he help up a clean glass.

"Can't, Tom, I'm on Hogwarts business," said Hagrid, clapping his great hand on Aileen's shoulder with enough force that she had to quickly placed one foot forward to prevent herself from face-planting the floor.

"Good Lord," said the bartender, peering at Aileen who shifted slightly in discomfort, "is this — can this be —?"

The Leaky Cauldron had suddenly gone completely still and silent as they all started at Aileen in dawning recognition.

"Bless my soul," whispered the old bartender, "Aileen Potter… what an honour."

He hurried out from behind the bar, rushed toward a shocked Aileen and seized her hand, tears in his eyes.

"Welcome back, Miss Potter, welcome back."

Aileen didn't know what to say or what to do. Everyone was looking at her. There was an old woman with a pipe, puffing on it without realizing it had gone out. Hagrid was beaming proudly, as though Aileen being recognised and being stared at like a child super-star was the best thing that could have happened. Although Aileen liked Hagrid as a person, she was starting to wish someone else had come to explain the wizarding world to her – someone who would have prevented the following circus.

Then there was a great scraping of chairs and the next moment, Aileen found her hands being seized and furiously shaken by what felt like everyone in the pub. Aileen turned so that her back was pressed into Hagrid's leg, she did not want any of these strangers touching her and she refused to be surrounded by complete strangers even if she couldn't prevent them from crowding around her and trying to shake her hand.

Aileenshook hands again and againalthough all she wanted to do was leave, she wasn't foolish enough to try and do so, insulting these people and creating a bad public image during her first visit to the wizarding world. Hagrid said she was famous, something substantiated by these peoples reaction, which meant she would probably be in the public eye far more then she would like, and so she would need to endeavour to keep a good public image. And to do that she would need to put up with actions such as those she was seeing here. However, she hoped that the longer she spent in the wizarding world, the calmer and more normal the people would react.

A pale young man made his way forward, very nervously. One of his eyes was twitching sporadically.

"Professor Quirrell!" Hagrid identified the nervous young man. "Aileen, Professor Quirrell will be one of your teachers at Hogwarts."

"P-P-Potter," stammered Professor Quirrell, grasping Aileen's hand, "c-can't t-tell you how p-pleased I am to meet you."

"What subject do youteach, Professor Quirrell?"Aileenasked politely as she fraught to keep her emotions controlled. She hadn't ever been in such a public setting before, especially being the centre of attention, and she was trying to suppress the panicked flight or fight instincts that were trying to surface.

"D-Defence Against the D-D-Dark Arts," muttered Professor Quirrell, as though he'd rather not think about it. "N-not that you n-need it, eh, P-P-Potter?" he laughed nervously. "You'll be g-getting all your equipment, I suppose? I've g-got to p-pick up a new b-book on vampires, m-myself." He looked terrified at the very thought.

The other patrons decided that Professor Quirrell was taking up too much of her time, because they pushed him out of the way and continued their mobbing of her. In the end, it took another ten minutes for Hagrid to notice that Aileen really wasn't enjoying herself, and made himself heard over the excited babble.

"Must get on — lots ter buy. Come on, Aileen."

Aileen dodged around Doric Crockford, and darted into the back of the bar where there was a small, walled courtyard. Hagrid followed her in, grinning as through pleased with himself.

"Told yeh, didn't I? Told yeh you was famous. Even Professor Quirrell was trembling' ter meet yeh — mind you, he's usually trembling."

"Is he always that nervous?" Aileenasked trying to distract herself from the panic attack she had been suppressing since the bartender had made his way towards her and focus on the information about one of her new teachers. If the man was always that nervous, then she doubted he would be a good teacher because he wouldn't be able to control the class and they would have trouble understanding what he was saying.

"Oh, yeah. Poor bloke. Brilliant mind. He was fine while he was studyin' outta books but then he took a year off ter get some first-hand experience… They say he met vampires in the Black Forest, and there was a nasty bit o' trouble with a hag — never been the same since. Scared of the students, scared of his own subject — now, where's me umbrella?"

Aileendearly hopped that not everyone reacted in the same way that the people in the pub did. She didn't think she could handle that much attention after being ignored for so long; especially considering the way that she nearly broke down the moment they started crowding around her. Hopefully the students and teachers wouldn't react too excitedly, and a few years there would help protect her from the public's reaction.

Hagrid, meanwhile, was counting bricks in the wall above the trashcan.

"Three up… two across…" he muttered. "Right, stand back, Aileen."

When Hagrid tapped the correct brick with the tip of his umbrella, it began trembling then wiggling. Slowly a whole formed in the middle of the wall, which grew wider as the bricks folded back on themselves to a form an archway that was big enough for even Hagrid to step through without bending. On the other side of the archway there was a cobbled street that twisted and turned out of sight.

"Welcome," said Hagrid, "to Diagon Alley." He grinned at Aileen's look of amazement which she hadn't been able to hide behind her normal mask.

They stepped through the archway. Aileen looked quickly over her shoulder and saw the archway shrink instantly back into solid wall. The sun shone brightly on a stack of cauldrons outside the nearest shop. Cauldrons — All Sizes — Copper, Brass, Pewter, Silver — Self-Stirring — Collapsible, said a sign hanging over them.

"Yeah, you'll be needin' one," said Hagrid, noticing where Aileen was looking. "but we gotta get yer money first."

Aileen wished she could spend all week looking around the alley. As they walked slowly up the street, she tried to look at every shop they passed and take everything in. They passed a motherly, red headed women who was shaking her head and complaining to the young red headed man at her side as she passed the apothecary: 'Dragon liver, sixteen Sickles an ounce, they're mad…'

Her attention was drawn next to a dark shop with a sign declaring it to be 'Eeylops Owl Emporium', the screech of disgruntled owls could be heard over the din of people walking the streets. Then they passed another shop, which seemed to have caught the interest of several young boys who were dressed in robes. They were pressed against the window, staring in admiration at whatever had been on display.

"Look," One of the boys said in breathless wonder to his companion, "the new Nimbus Two Thousand — fastest ever -"

There were shops selling robes, shops selling telescopes and strange silver instruments Aileen had never seen before, windows stacked with barrels of bat spleens and eels' eyes, tottering piles of spell books, quills, and rolls of parchment, potion bottles, globes of the moon…

"Gringotts," said Hagrid, bringing Aileen's attention to the grandest building in the ally that reminded her rather sharply of a Roman temple. It was easily the tallest (and cleanest) building in the alley, and looked as though the Alley had been built up around this building. There were strong white marble columns holding the overhang up and stairs that led to the imposing bronze doors. Stood on either side of those doors, Aileen noticed as they slowly ascended the steps, were two being wearing a uniform of scarlet and gold.

"Yeah, that's a goblin," said Hagrid quietly, trying not to draw the being's attention to the fact that he was talking about him.

The goblin was about a head shorter than Aileen, which placed them at around 3'5 inches since Aileen was only 3'9 (the average height of a seven year old). He had a swarthy, clever face, a pointed beard and, Aileen noticed, very long fingers and feet. He bowed as they walked inside. Aileen nodded her head back in a sign of respect since she didn't want to get off on the wrong foot with the beings that clearly belonged to a warrior race.

In scripted on the second pair of doors was a warning:

Enter, stranger, but take heed  
Of what awaits the sin of greed,  
For those who take, but do not earn,  
Must pay most dearly in their turn.  
So if you seek beneath our floors  
A treasure that was never yours,  
Thief, you have been warned, beware  
Of finding more than treasure there.

The writing was large, elegant and imposing. It was impossible to pass through the doors of Gringotts and not see there poetic warning. If someone did try and take treasure that did not belong to them, Aileen could easily see these creatures responding violently and swiftly to prevent any future endeavours.

"Like I said, Yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it," said Hagrid.

There was another pair of goblins guarding this door, and Aileen once again returned their bow with a nod. On the other side of the silver doors there was a vast marble hall. About a hundred more goblins were sitting on high stools behind a long counter, scribbling in large ledgers, weighing coins in brass scales, examining precious stones through eyeglasses. These goblins weren't as heavily armed as the ones at the door had been, but she noticed that they all at least carried one weapon on their person.

Behind each teller there was a door, and then along the back wall were there were no tellers, even more doors led deeper into the bank. There were more goblins showing wizards and witches in and out of several of these doors, although Aileen noticed that several of these doors remained closed. Hagrid and Aileen made for one of the many counters. Since it was still relatively early there were several tellers which weren't serving customers.

"Morning," said Hagrid to a free goblin. "We've come ter take some money outta MissAileen Potter's safe."

"You have her key, sir?"

"Got it here somewhere," said Hagrid, and he started emptying his pockets onto the counter, scattering a handful of mouldy dog biscuits over the goblin's book of numbers. The goblin wrinkled his nose in disgust. Aileen watched the goblin warily, not used to being around creatures that didn't immediately attack her. She was starting to think that she was going to have to narrow her personal classification of beasts, creatures and beings down a bit.

"Got it," said Hagrid at last, holding up a tiny golden key.

The goblin looked at it closely. "That seems to be in order."

"An' I've also got a letter here from Professor Dumbledore," said Hagrid importantly, throwing out his chest. "It's about the You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen."

The goblin read the letter carefully. "Very well," he said, handing it back to Hagrid, "I will have someone take you down to both vaults. Griphook!"

Once Hagrid had crammed all the dog biscuits back inside his pockets, he and Aileenfollowed the goblin who Aileen assumed was Griphook, toward one of the many doors leading off the hall.

"What's the You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen?" Aileenasked.

The years she had suppressed her curiosity showing now that she had started to trust Hagrid to a degree and he had yet to show any negative emotion to her questions. In a way, she knew that she was also boundaries, seeing how far she could go before she reached Hagrid's breaking point.

"Can't tell yeh that," said Hagrid mysteriously. "Very secret. Hogwarts business. Dumbledore's trusted me. More'n my job's worth ter tell yeh that."

Griphook held the door open for them. Aileen, who had expected more marble, was surprised. They were in a narrow stone passageway lit with flaming torches. It sloped steeply downward and there were little railway tracks on the floor. Griphook whistled and a small cart came hurtling up the tracks toward them. They climbed in — Hagrid with some difficulty — and were off.

Gringotts vault system, and what was probably their first stage of defence, was that everything was like a maze, and the carts moved far too fast for anyone to remember. Aileen could recall the first minute of turns, but after that she got confused by the blurring walls. The cart was going so fast that Aileen assumed it was being steered by magic, since Griphook was making no signs that he was the one controlling the cart.

Aileen's eyes stung as the cold air rushed past them, but she kept them wide open. They plunged even deeper, passing an underground lake where huge stalactites and stalagmites grew from the ceiling and floor.

Aileenlooked over at Hagrid to see that helook very green, and when the cart stopped at last beside a small door in the passage wall, Hagrid got out and had to lean against the wall to stop his knees from trembling.

Griphook unlocked the door. A lot of green smoke came billowing out, and as it cleared, Aileen gasped. Inside were mounds of gold coins. Columns of silver. Heaps of little bronze Knuts.

"All yours" smiled Hagrid.

All Aileen's — it was incredible. The Dursleys couldn't have known about this or they'd have had it from her faster than blinking. It did not matter that they would have had to enter the wizarding world to get it; they would still do it for the amount of money there _._ How often had they complained how much Aileen cost them to keep? And all the time there had been a small fortune belonging to her, buried deep under London.

"Excuse me, Griphook?" Aileen caught their goblin guide's attention. "Is there a way for me to find out how much money my parents left me?" Aileen asked.

"I'll ask when we return to the main part of the bank to see if your account manager can see you." Griphook said, nodding his head.

"Thanks," Aileen muttered, before looking to Hagrid for instructions. She didn't know how much she needed. Until she could get a handle on wizarding prices, and the amount of money she actually had, she would have to be careful. Although it looked like a lot, she didn't want to spent it all, and then not be able to afford Hogwarts, or the means of looking after herself afterwards if she wasn't able to get a decent job straight out of Hogwarts.

"The gold ones are Galleons," he explained, as he put a handful of the coins in the bag for her. "Seventeen silver Sickles to a Galleon and twenty-nine Knuts to a Sickle, its easy enough. Right, that should be enough fer a couple o' terms, we'll keep the rest safe for yeh." He turned to Griphook. "Vault seven hundred and thirteen now, please, and can we go more slowly?"

"One speed only," said Griphook as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

They were going even deeper now and gathering speed, disproving the goblins statement of one speed only. Aileen figured that he was punishing the wizard for the disrespect he had shown the teller. The air became colder and colder as they hurtled round tight corners. They went rattling over an underground ravine. They came to a stop in front of a vault that didn't have a kay hole. Aileen assumed that this meant the vault was more heavily guarded then her own had been.

"Stand back," said Griphook importantly. He stroked the door gently with one of his long fingers and it simply melted away.

"If anyone but a Gringotts goblin tried that, they'd be sucked through the door and trapped in there," said Griphook, seeing Aileen's look of interest at the display of magic.

"How often do you check to see if anyone's inside?" Aileen inquired with morbid curiosity.

"About once every ten years," said Griphook with a rather nasty grin.

Something really extraordinary had to be inside this top security vault, Aileen was sure, and she leaned forwardslightly to see what was inside. In the middle of the almost empty vault was agrubby little package wrapped up in brown paper lying on the floor. Hagrid picked it up and tucked it deep inside his coat. Aileen longed to know what it was, but knew better than to ask.

"Come on, back in this infernal cart, and don't talk to me on the way back, it's best if I keep me mouth shut,'" Hagrid warned.

After the wild cart ride, Griphook instructed them to wait in the lobby while he went to find out when Aileen could meet with her account manager. They were only waiting a few minutes when Griphook came back with a pendent.

"This is a goblin portkey, keep it on you at all times. It will activate tonight at seven fifty, five minutes before your appointment to see your account manager, Sharpclaw." He ordered roughly.

"Thank you, Griphook." Aileen accepted the pendent which she immediately looped around her neck. Offering the goblin a bow, she followed Hagrid out of the bank.

"Might as well get yer uniform," said Hagrid, nodding toward Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. "Listen, Aileen, would yeh mind if I slipped off fer a pick-me-up in the Leaky Cauldron? I hate them Gringotts carts."

He did still look a bit sick, so Aileen entered Madam Malkin's shop alone, feeling nervous.

Madam Malkin was a squat, smiling witch dressed all in mauve.

"Hogwarts, dear?" she said, when Aileen started to speak. "Got the lot here — a young is man being fitted up just now, in fact."

"I also need a normal wardrobe." Aileen spoke hesitantly.

"Wizarding or Muggle dear?" she asked pausing for a moment.

"I need a few wizarding and non-magical cloths in dark colours. And some underwear, if that's alright?" Aileen asked hesitantly. Although she would have preferred to have gotten a fall accounting of her money before doing something like this, she refused to start at Hogwarts were rags, especially considering the facts that her father's family were apparently very wealthy and she was a hero – there was an image she needed to maintain.

"That will be fine dear. Would you like any charms added to the standard ones we put on?" she asked.

"What are the standard spells you use?" Aileen asked curiously, she hadn't realised that the cloths came with charms but if they did, maybe it meant that she would have to spend less money in the long run.

"Mild water resistant, mild fire resistant, durability and a minimum of two inches growing." she listed.

"Then just the standard spells please." Aileen decided. Even if she didn't know what the optional extras were, she didn't want to spend more money than she needed to, and the spells that the lady had listed would help to reduce her spending in the long run, since there was some growing room and less chance of damage.

The women nodded and led her the rest of the way to the back were the measuring booths were. Aileen made a note to browse the fabric and rack cloths at a later date, once she had been to Gringotts and budgeted. Getting all her wardrobe pre-made was probably more expensive than getting it off the rack, so she decided that when she had to replace her cloths she would get everything but the uniform pre-made.

In the back of the shop, a boy with a pale, pointed face was standing on a footstool while a second witch pinned up his long black robes. Madam Malkin stood Aileen on a stool next to him slipped a long robe over her head, and began to pin it to the right length, width and various other points. It was almost like Madam Malkin was using her as a manikin.

"Hello," said the boy, "Hogwarts, too?"

"Yes," said Aileen, bowing her head slightly as she held her body completely ridged making it easier for Madam Malkin to do her job, without having to re-pin anything or be extra careful in her endeavour to not pin Aileen.

"My father's next door buying my books and mother's up the street looking at wands," said the boy. He had a bored, drawling voice. "Then I'm going to drag them off to look at racing brooms. I don't see why first years can't have their own. I think I'll bully father into getting me one and I'll smuggle it in somehow." The bragging way the boy spoke stronglyremindedher of Dudley. "Have you got your own broom?" the boy went on.

"No," Aileen answered.

"Play Quidditch at all?"

Assuming Quidditch was a sport Aileen took a shot in the dark, "Not yet but I'd like to. _"_

"I do — Father says it's a crime if I'm not picked to play for my house, and I must say, I agree. Know what house you'll be in yet?"

"No," Aileen said remember what her mother said about the four houses and the personalities that represented each. She hoped that she was actually remembering something, and not just making it up because of what had been revealed the day before.

"Well, no one really knows until they get there, do they, but I know I'll be in Slytherin, all our family have been — imagine being in Hufflepuff, I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?"

"I personally don't think there's anything wrong with being kind and loyal." Aileen said disliking the boy more and more.

"I say, look at that man!" said the boy suddenly, nodding toward the front window and disregarding what Aileen had said. Aileen noticed that the lady measuring the boy was frowning in disapproval and annoyance as she continued trying to work despite his constant shifting.

Hagrid was standing there, grinning at Aileen and pointing at two large ice creams to show he couldn't come in. It seemed he was not feeling ill anymore. Aileen offered him a smile in acknowledgement, before nodding her understanding when Hagrid motioned a bench that was ff to the side of the store.

"That's Hagrid," said Aileensoftly, hopping the boy would realise that insulting Hagrid would offend her as well. "He works at Hogwarts."

"Oh," said the boy, "I've heard of him. He's a sort of servant, isn't he?"

"He's the gamekeeper," Aileencorrected noticing that the lady pining the boys robes purposely jabbed the boy with the needle making him yelp in pain and glare at her. She apologies but Aileen could tell she didn't mean it because she winked at her when she noticed her looking. It seemed she had finally given up trying to ignore him.

"Yes, exactly. I heard he's a sort of savage — lives in a hut on the school grounds and every now and then he gets drunk, tries to do magic, and ends up setting fire to his bed."

"I think he's brilliant," said Aileencoldlywishing the boy would shut up.

"Do you?" said the boy, with a slight sneer. "Why, is he with you? Where are your parents?"

"They're dead," said Aileen shortly. She didn't feel much like going into the matter with this boywho should have known better than to ask such a personal question, especially when it was made obvious she was with Hagrid.

"Oh, sorry," said the other, not sounding sorry at all. "But they were our kind, weren't they?"

Aileen raised one of her eyebrows at the other boy. "What matter is it to you? My parents, where my parents. Whether they had the gift of magic didn't matter. They were still good, honest people and I obviously inherited magic from somewhere. It can't be spontaneously occurring in hundreds of 'non-magical families' each year. So even if they weren't magical, one of my ancestors more than likely was." Aileen told the boy coldly.

The boy puffed himself up, and looked down his nose at her. "My father said they shouldn't be letting the other sort in. They aren't like us, they weren't brought up the same and they don't know our culture, tradition and norms. Some of them have never even heard of Hogwarts until they get the letter, imagine. I think they should keep it in the old wizarding families."

Aileen narrowed her eyes. It seemed although she had yet to see any form of racism, or even sexism (although she was sure it would appear later), the wording world had its own form of prejudice in ancestry.

"Well of cause they haven't heard of it before, those without magic aren't supposed to know so how can those living in the world of non-magicals know about it if the teachers don't come and inform them until they've turned eleven." Aileen said sharply using the vague knowledge she had picked up to shoot down the boy's argument.

But before the blond boy could answer, Madam Malkin said, "That's you done, my dear," and Aileen, not sorry for an excuse to stop talking to the boy, hopped down from the footstool.

"Well, I'll see you at Hogwarts, I suppose," drawled the boy.

Aileen payed for her cloths (six galleons, and twelves sickles), and Madam Malkin was kind enough to shrink the package so that it would fit in her pocket. When she wanted to resize the package, she just had to tap the middle of the string with her finger. Aileen thought it was mighty useful since she hadn't brought her trunk first, and so didn't have anywhere to put the many packages she would probably end up buying that day.

Aileen was quiet as she slowly ate the ice cream Hagrid had bought her (chocolate and raspberry with chopped nuts). It was very nice, but she knew her body would make her regret eating it later. She wasn't used to sugary things, and so she shouldn't have accepted the treat, but Hagrid had been kind enough to buy it for her and she couldn't say no to him.

"What's up?" said Hagrid.

"Nothing," Aileen lied.

Once they had finished their ice-cream, they went to the trunk shop. It took a bit of searching but Aileen found a decent trunk, that wasn't too expensive. It was a standard trunk, but with some space expansion size so that she wouldn't have any trouble fitting her things into it.

From the trunk shop, they went to get her parchment and quills. Aileen brought the standard black ink, but she also brought a bottle of ink that changed colours as you wrote (and then remained that colour once it had dried) to write her notes in. She figured that the colour would make it easier for her to concentrate. She also brought ten blank books and some extra parchment to what was recommended for your average Hogwarts student, much to Hagrid's confusion.

"So I can practise my hand writing and write my notes up neat." Aileen explained as she handed over the galleon for everything and got five sickles in change.

When they had left the shop, she finally felt comfortable enough to asked, "Hagrid, what's Quidditch?"

"Blimey, Aileen, I keep forgettin' how little yeh know — not knowin' about Quidditch!" Hagrid shook his head in dismay.

Deciding to open up to the man slightly, Aileen explained what the pale boy from the robe shop had said and how he (or rather his father) thought people from non-magical backgrounds shouldn't go to Hogwarts.

"Yer not from a Muggle family." Hagrid tried comforting her. "If he'd known who yeh were — he's grown up knowin' yer name if his parents are wizardin' folk. You saw what everyone in the Leaky Cauldron was like when they saw yeh. Anyway, what does he know about it, some o' the best I ever saw were the only ones with magic in 'em in a long line o' Muggles — look at yer mum! Look what she had fer a sister!"

"So what is Quidditch?" Aileen asked the questions that had started this topic.

"It's our sport. Wizard sport. It's like — like soccer in the Muggle world — everyone follows Quidditch — played up in the air on broomsticks and there's four balls — sorta hard ter explain the rules."

"Okay, maybe I'll get a book or ask a player when I go to Hogwarts." Aileen suggested when it looked like Hagrid was having trouble trying to explain the game properly. Instead, she moved on to her next question, hoping that he would be able to answer it and clarify the information from her dreams. "And what are Slytherin and Hufflepuff?"

"School houses. There's four. Everyone says Hufflepuff are a lot o' duffers, but itsbetter tur be Hufflepuff than Slytherin," said Hagrid darkly. "There's not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin. You-Know-Who was one."

"Vol-, sorry —You-Know-Who was at Hogwarts?" Aileen asked, only slightly shocked. It made sense, if Voldemort was a home grown terrorist that he began with the prominent wizarding school – it would also explain how he got some of his followers: old school friends.

"Years an' years ago," said Hagrid.

Hagrid led her to Flourish and Blotts which turned out to be the local book store. The organisation system was slightly wacky, with books piled as high as the ceiling and also shelved in the bookcases. There were books as large as paving stones; books the size of postage stamps in covers of silk; books full of peculiar symbols and a few books with nothing in them at all. In a bid to save money, Aileen brought sets of school books and got money off, and spent some extra money on things such as history texts and listed supplementary reading material. Since the additional books were from the second hand section of the shop, they didn't cost her too much money, although she probably would have gotten a better deal at an actual second hand shop.

After that they headed next door and got a nice set of scales for weighing potion ingredients and a collapsible brass telescope. Following the trend of potions they visited the Apothecary which was truly fascinating despite the atrocious smell. Barrels of slimy stuff stood on the floor; jars of herbs, dried roots, and bright powders lined the walls; bundles of feathers, strings of fangs, and snarled claws hung from the ceiling. While Hagrid asked the man behind the counter for a supply of some basic potion ingredients for Aileen, Aileen herself examined other ingredients in the shop. She couldn't wait to find out what all the ingredients did, how they could be used to create something useful and to even turn them into something useful herself.

Outside the Apothecary, Hagrid checked Aileen's list again. "Just yer wand left — Ah yeah, an' I still haven't got yeh a birthday present."

"You don't have to -" Aileen said, Hagrid had done more than enough for her already.

"I know I don't have to. Tell yeh what, I'll get yer animal. Not a toad, toads went outta fashion years ago, yeh'd be laughed at — an' I don' like cats, they make me sneeze. I'll get yer an owl. All the kids want owls, they're dead useful, carry yer mail an' everythin'."

Hagrid led her into the owl shop they had pasted earlier. The moment they crossed the fresh-hold of the darkened shop, a beautiful snowy owl had decided from the rafters and perched on her shoulder where it had refused to move. Understanding that the blessed symbol of Athena had chosen her, and wouldn't have her opinion changed on the matter, Aileen had accepted with a little giggle. Gentle stroked the owl's breast and turning to Hagrid and the flustered shop keeper who appeared to have been trying to contain the owl. Aileen simple informed them that she had been chosen as this owl's pet, and she was going to need everything that the beauty needed to be taken care off.

Although she had offered to pay, Hagrid wouldn't hear a word off it, saying that it was his gift to her. in the end Aileen had conceded, but refused to let him pay for all the things the owl needed. It was a hard one battle, but Aileen didn't want to take advantage of Hagrid's generosity and she was already embarrassed enough by him buying the owl.

"Just Ollivanders left now — only place fer wands, Ollivanders, and yeh gotta have the best wand." Hagrid declared happily as they left the shop, Hedwig settled into sleep in her cage which had been covered with black cloth in order to keep her calm.

Ollivanders wand shop was easily the oldest building in the alley – or at least the only old building in the alley that hadn't been refurbished lately. The sign, was faded and she imagined only readily due to magic – announcing that the shop had been making wands since 382BC. The windows were dusty, the frame warped and the wood of the building old and starting to crumbled. But the very air around the shop was vibrating with energy, which seemed to get worse as she stepped inside. The hairs on the back of her next stood on end, and Aileen took a deep breath to try and control herself. It seemed Hagrid didn't feel the powering, the new energy and life, like she did since he calmly sat on a tiny stool by the door, not appearing remotely bothered.

"Good afternoon," said a soft voice.

Aileenvery nearly drew her sword when a man suddenly appeared before her. Hagrid must have jumped, because there was a loud crunching noise as he got quickly off the spindly chair. An old man was standing before them, his wide, pale eyes shining like moons through the gloom of the shop.

"Hello," said Aileen awkwardly, trying to stem her automatic fight reaction. She was going to have to curb that habit, she realised, when she got to Hogwarts. She would constantly be surrounded by people and unexpected noise, and she couldn't go around attacking or hiding all the time. But she couldn't lose the instinct either, it would lead to her death when she returned to the non-magical side, or even while in the magical side. She had no idea if the monsters could get to her while she was at the boarding school. It was something she was going to have to find out.

"Ah yes," said the man. "Yes, yes. I thought I'd be seeing you soon. Aileen Potter." It wasn't a question. Aileen figured that he was trying to be mysterious, but she wasn't stupid. When she had span round, her scar had become visible on her forehead, even though she normally kept it covered with her fringe. "You have your mother's eyes. It seems only yesterday she was in here herself, buying her first wand. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. Nice wand for charm work."

But despite Aileen acknowledging how Mr Ollivander knew who she was, she didn't like the way he was looking at her. It was like he was something not only here, but everyone one of the ancestors before her – the time he had sold her mother's wand, her father's wand, her grandfathers and so for. And although she was grateful for this knowledge about her parents, the fact that he was staring at her unblinkingly with his silver eyes was making her uncomfortable. Only hard wan control over herself and her emotions, kept her stood tall and proud before Ollivander.

"Your father, on the other hand, favoured a mahogany wand. Eleven inches, pliable, a little more power and excellent for transfiguration. Well, I say your father favoured it — it's really the wand that chooses the wizard, of course."

Ollivander stood close enough now, that he was inside even a normal person's sphere of comfort. Desiding that he had put up with enough of the man's creepiness, Aileen took a step back.

"Mr Ollivander, I assume? I would appreciate it if you remain at a reasonable and socially accepted distance." Aileen spoke calmly, but coldly.

"I apologise." Ollivander said, blinking and shaking his head before his eyes returned to the scar on his forehead. "I'm also sorry so say that I was the one who sold the wand that cause your car." He said softly, sadly. "Thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Powerful wand, very powerful, and in the wrong hands… well, if I'd known what that wand was going out into the world to do…" He shook his head.

"You're job is to sell wand's, Mr Ollivander, not ensure that they are used properly. That is the job of teachers and the law." Aileen felt compelled to comfort. After all, it was not the fault of the blacksmith or weapon's designing if they're products are used to kill innocents unless they intentionally and knowingly allowed them to fall into the hands of those who would do evil. The same logic could be applied here, accept that Mr Ollivander was selling his wands to eleven year olds, and there was no way of telling what children will do when they have grown up and seen the world for what it really is.

"You're right, of course." Ollivander agreed, before his eyes spotted Hagrid and he smiled. "Rubeus! Rubeus Hagrid! How nice to see you again… Oak, sixteen inches, rather bendy, wasn't it?"

"It was, sir, yes," said Hagrid, still a little bit jump from early, but straightening proudly at the mention of his wand.

"Good wand, that one. But I suppose they snapped it in half when you got expelled?" said Mr Ollivander, suddenly stern.

"Er — yes, they did, yes," said Hagrid, shuffling his feet. "I've still got the pieces, though," he added brightly.

"But you don't use them?" Mr Ollivandersaid sharply.

"Oh, no, sir," said Hagrid quickly. Aileen noticed he gripped his pink umbrella very tightly as he spoke. She suppressed the smile that wished to turn the corner of her lips up. Hagrid was a terrible liar.

"Hmmm," said Mr Ollivander, giving Hagrid a piercing look. "Well, now — Miss Potter. Let me see." He pulled a long tape measure with silver markings out of his pocket. "Which is your wand arm?"

"I'm right-handed," said Aileen, which was true although she taught herself to work (and fight) with her left as well since Vernon liked breaking the fingers on her dominate hand as punishment for when she hadn't finished a chore fast enough. Why he did so, she didn't know, because it just meant she was slower in finishing the chores until she had been able to fix her hand.

"Hold out your arm. That's it." He measured Aileen from shoulder to finger, then wrist to elbow, shoulder to floor, knee to armpit and round her head.

As he was measuring, he fell into his professional role as a wand-maker and seller, and began to lecture her. "Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance, Miss Potter. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers, and the heartstrings of dragons. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as no two unicorns, dragons, or phoenixes are quite the same. And of course, you will never get such good results with another wizard's wand."

Sometime around the beginning of his lecture Ollivander had let go of the measuring tap, allowing it to measure her on its own. Instead he was ghosting between his shelves, and pulling down the thin boxes that she assumed contained the wands (or very small shoes).

"That will do," he said, and the tape measure crumpled into a heap on the floor. "Right then, Miss Potter. Try this one. Beechwood and dragon heartstring. Nine inches. Nice and flexible, just take it and give it a wave."

Aileen took the wand and (feeling foolish) flicked her wrist like she would when holding a tennis racket and trying to minimise arm movement. It seemed the wand wasn't right for her, because Mr Ollivander snatched it out of her hand almost at once.

"Maple and phoenix feather. Seven inches. Quite whippy. Try -" Aileen tried — but she had hardly raised the wand when it, too, was snatched back by Mr Ollivander. "No, no — here, ebony and unicorn hair, eight and a half inches, springy. Go on, go on, try it out."

Aileentried. And wands she was given were made out of many different types of woods: Birch, Maple, Ash, Oak, Arbutus, Juniper, Holly, Willow, Olive and Eucalyptus were the most commonly reappearing woods that she was given, although Ollivander would sometimes give her a wand made of a different wood.

Once, when she was younger she had a phase were she learnt the meanings behind trees and flowers. Assuming that the woods meant something – which is why a specific wand matched a specific person – Aileen figured that it was the meanings behind the woods that made it important.

Birch is a wood that gives the essence of truth, and was considered the giving tree. Therefore those who match best with the birch wood are more likely to speak the truth and give things to others (metaphorically and literally). However Birch is also a wood with great powers to purify and discipline; it is about new beginnings, fresh starts, creativity, procreation renewal and rebirth, purification and service. Birch is associated with the element of water. Since this wood did match her personality the best, as far she could determine, it was the most commonly the occurring of the woods.

Then there was maple, which represented a true offering, of giving yourself for the benefit of others. It was being self-sacrificing, and putting other's needs before your own. It was the wood of marital binding and family strength. Ash represents those with good health and peace of mind. It was the wood for a healer. Then there was Oak, which represented strength of both character and health. It was the wood of a warrior's wand.

Arbutus is a sacred wood because of its strength to anchor others and hold them steady when a flood attempts to over-whelm them. It was the wand of a leader, of the one who gives strength and comfort to those under his command. Juniper holds powers of protection, strength, healing, health, peace and love. Juniper is connected to good health and banishing anything injurious to health. It work well alongside ash as the wand of a healer.

Holly wood does not have a specific meaning but according to Celtic believe these type of people fit in best with those of Oak, Arbutus, Birch, Willow, Vine, Reed and Alder. Willow was the wood of emotion, of love, intuition and peotic inspiration. It was the wood of free spirit and creativity. Best for artists. The Olive wood offers insight, inspiration and aids in the communication of people; and the Eucalyptus is one of the strongest healing woods known to the people.

She didn't know what the cores meant, but assumed that the magical creatures and various other things that made up the cores had similar meanings to the woods. So when a wood and the core best matched what the customers personality was, then there would be something that would let Ollivander know that the wand had found its owner.

Aileen didn't know what, specifically, Mr. Ollivander was looking for, or how he could tell if a wand suited its wielder. The pile of tried wands was mounting higher and higher on Ollivander's besk but the more wands Mr Ollivander pulled from the shelves, the happier he seemed to become.

"Tricky customer, eh? Not to worry, we'll find the perfect match here somewhere — I wonder, now — yes, why not — unusual combination — holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple."

Aileen took the wand. She felt a sudden warmth in her fingersthat spread up her arm and into her chest. She raised the wand above her head, brought it swishing down through the dusty air and a stream of red, green, silver and gold sparks shot from the end like a firework, throwing dancing spots of light on to the walls.

Hagrid whooped and clapped and Mr Ollivander cried, "Oh, bravo! Yes, indeed, oh, very good. Well, well, well… how curious… how very curious…" He put Aileen's wand back into its box and wrapped it in brown paper, still muttering, "Curious… curious…"

"Sorry sir," said Aileen, "but what's curious?"

Mr Ollivander fixed Aileen with his pale stare.

"I remember every wand I've ever sold, Miss Potter. Every single wand. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand, gave another feather — just one other. It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand when its brother — why, its brother gave you that scar."

Aileen swallowedthickly. The fates really wanted her to have things in common with Voldemort, didn't they? Why, she didn't know. But she had a horrible feeling that Voldemort wasn't dead, and the fates were threading her weaves in a way that led her to him.

"Yes, thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Curious indeed how these things happen. The wand chooses the wizard, remember… I think we must expect great things from you, Miss. Potter… After all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things — terrible, yes, but great."

Aileen shivered. She wasn't sure she liked Mr Ollivander _'s_ riddled ways too much. She paid seven gold Galleons for her wandand an extra three for a wand holster and wand cleaning kit, and Mr Ollivander bowed them from his shop.

Having finished their day of shopping, Hagrid led Aileen back through the Alley and to the Leaky Cauldron. Since they hadn't eaten lunch, and only had a very small breakfast, Hagrid insisted on buying Aileen something to eat before sending her back to the Dursley's. Aileen didn't mind too much, since it gave her the time to focus and put her thoughts into some kind of order.

Hagrid broughtAileena salad sandwich since he noticed that Aileen was staying away from the greasy foods, and he brought himself a large burger. They sat down on plastic seats to eat. Aileen kept looking around. Everything looked so strange, somehow.

"You all right, Aileen? Yer very quiet," said Hagrid.

Aileen wasn't sure she could explain. She'd just had the best birthday of her life — and yet — she chewed her sandwich, trying to find the words. She wasn't used to speaking at all, never mind sharing her feelings and thoughts on something.

"Hagrid, I'm not used to getting any form of attention, especially not from strangers." Aileen began at last. "The people at the Leakey Cauldron, on the streets, Mr Ollivander, they all seem to think that I'm … I don't … that I'm special or something. But I'm not. I know nothing about magic. I don't know anything about my family's history – let alone theirs. How can they expect great things? I'm famous and I can't even remember what I'm famous for. I don't know what happened the night my parents died."

Hagrid leaned across the table. Behind the wild beard and eyebrows he wore a very kind smile. "Don' you worry, Aileen. You'll learn fast enough. Everyone starts at the beginning at Hogwarts, you'll be just fine. Just be yerself. I know it's hard. Yeh've been singled out, an' that's always hard. But yeh'll have a great time at Hogwarts — I did — still do, 'smatter of fact."

Despite Hagrid putting her on the train back to the Dursley's, Aileen returned long enough to write a note letting them now she would be back the following day, and if she wasn't assume that they wouldn't see her until the next summer, before heading back to London. She had a meeting with the goblins, and she didn't know how long it was going to take, but she didn't want to appear in the goblin reception hall covered in injuries. She was lucky that the last beating she took was more than a week ago so moving around hadn't been too hard.

Aileen spent the remaining hour once she had gotten back to London, wondering Diagon Alley and trying to get a hold on the layout. She was about to enter a second hand shop and have a look around, when the pendent warmed slightly and suddenly the world was spinning. Just as quickly as it had begun, it stopped and Aileen came to an unsteady stop in a room with marble walls. There was a goblin warrior stood ready to great her.

"Identification?" The goblin grunted.

"I'm sorry, but what counts as identification in the wizarding world? Will the pendent Griphook gave me do?" Aileen asked, breathing deeply in order to regain her sense of awareness.

"The pendent will do." The goblin said after a moment of carefully assessing her, as though he was shocked that Aileen knew the name of the goblin who had given her the means of making it to the bank.

Aileen took the pendent off and handed it to the goblin warrior who stared at it, assessing it, for a moment before nodding.

"Follow me." he ordered, spinning on his heal and marching from the room.

Aileen quickly followed, not wanting to lose her guide within the goblin's home. He led her past ancient tapestries, doors with various sigils on, and other goblin guards. Eventually, they came to a stop outside one of the more impressive doors they had pasted on their journey.

The sigil took up a good proportion of the door. It was a shield with two crossing swords at the bottom. On either side stood two proud beast that Aileen identified as Griffins. Coming from the centre of the shield was the proud face of a lion. Then there was branches of roses curling out of the top of the shield. Written in bold letters along a banner that circled the sigil was the Potter creed:  
Pietas, Justitia, Serves, Vires, Familiam. Sta fortis, superbus sto, quia facies voluerit nocere.

Her goblin guide nocked on the door, and a deep growling voice called for them to enter. The goblin opened the door, motioning her inside before closing the door behind her and leaving. Aileen took in the new room. It was large, and obviously a well-used office. Running along one wall was bookcases, along the opposing wall was filling cabinets. The back wall contained weapons which looked to have seen quite some use. Stood pride and centre was a large oak desk which had neat piles of paperwork stacked on it. Sat behind the desk was what appeared to be an elder goblin, who still looked just as fiacres as all the other warrior goblins she had seen.

Aileen offered him a bow of greeting, having observed that this was the customary way of goblin greetings. "Account Manager Sharpclaw."

"Miss Potter, take a seat." the goblin motioned to the two chairs that sat on the other side of his desk. "What can I do for you?"

"I would like to see a full accounting of everything that has been left to me. I need to know the full extent of my wealth so that I may be able to properly manage my spending." Aileen explained.

"Very well," Sharpclaw nodded his assent before pulling a large file from the side of his desk. "I had assumed that was what you wished to know. I have compiled everything from your estates, investments, portfolios and vaults into this. I've also included all problems that have arisen since your parent's death."

"Was a guardian of the vaults not appointed before I was old enough to do it myself?" Aileen asked confused. She knew that was something they did in the non-magical world when the inheritor of the estate wasn't old enough to take on the responsibility. She was still, technically considered too young in the non-magical world, but Sharpclaw hadn't dissuaded her yet so she assumed she still had some authority as the inheritor despite her age.

"Unfortunately your parent's wills were sealed upon their death, which prevented a guardian being appointed. However, now you are here in person you can take up some of those roles until you turn fifteen, were more duties will be added. Despite this opening most of your vaults and estates to you, there will be restriction on what you can change and access until your seventeenth birthday, at which point you can take control of all assist's pertaining your house." Sharpclaw explained.

"Who sealed my parent's will, and how do I unseal it?" Aileen demanded.

"It was sealed by order of the Wizagnmont, the motioned was protested heavily by Albus Dumbledore – the Chief Warlock – but he wasn't able to stop the motion. You need to get the motion introduced to the Wizagnmont to have the will unsealed or, your magical guardian Sirius Black can order the will unsealed. "

"Sirius Black?" Aileen asked confused. She was lost, and they hadn't even started discussing her monitory value yet.

"Your godfather." Sharpclaw shifted through some parchment which he then read from. "He was incarcerated in Azkaban, the wizarding prison, on the 3rd of November. However, he was never given a trial or charged with anything which means by magic he is still your primary guardian due to his station as your godfather."

"Right, I'll look into that on my own time, although I may contact you in the future regarding this." Aileen said, signalling the end of the conversation in regards to her guardianship.

"Very well, these are the documents that you will need to read through." Sharpclaw said pushing the large stack towards her.

The top page was a summary sheet:

 _Holder:_ Aileen Alessa Lakshmi Potter

 _Mother:_ Lillian Haruki Potter nee Evens

 _Father:_ Poseidon

 _Blood family:_ _James Charlus Potter (blood adopted)_

 _Godfather:_ Sirius Orion Black (Blood bound)

 _Godmother:_ Alice Marie Longbottom nee Smith

 _Evens – Heir by blood_

 _Vaults:_ #395 (23,499 Galleons, 732 Sickles, 83 Knuts and assorted items items)

 _Potter – heir by blood_

 _Vaults:_ #132 (497,621,742,933 Galleons, 30,000,000 Sickles, 3,658, Knuts) #686 (69,438,937 Galleons, 76,594,593 Sickles, 76,418,218 Knuts) #687 (89,438,741,937 Galleons, 19,783,294 Sickles, 23,900,218 Knuts and assorted items) #713 (50,000 Galleons)

 _Properties:_ Potter Manor, Italian Villa, Nature's Marvel, Godric Hallows, Memorial Apartment Complex, Spanish Holiday Homes, Potter Farm.

 _Investments:_ 46% Daily Prophet, 5% Zonko's Joke Shop, 34% Nimbus, 21% Bolt, 12% Knockturn Appocraphy.

 _Entitlements_ : 9 votes with Wizagnmont seat

 _Peverell – heir by blood_

 _Vaults:_ #824 (395,721,654 Galleons and assorted items)

 _Properties:_ Peverell gardens, sanctuary,

 _Investments:_ 7% Ollivanders,

 _Entitlements:_ 2 votes with Wizagnmont seat

 _Black – heir by name, magic and blood_

 _Riddle – heir by magic_

 _Slytherin –heir by magic_

 _Collections Account_

Vault: 239# (976345,211 Galleons, 21 Sickles, 5 Knuts) #210 (Assorted items)

"That's…" Aileen stared at the summary sheet with wide eyed astonishment. Disregarding the fact that she didn't know what the Black, Slytherin and Riddle accounts held, she was still astonishingly rich. She had spent the last ten years living as what amounted to a slave, and had all this money waiting for her. After a couple of minutes of just staring, Aileen pulled herself back together and looked to the goblin.

"Has my tuition to Hogwarts been payed?" Aileen asked, getting down to business and choosing to think the implications over at a later date. If she could figure out a way of permanently leaving the Dursleys, then she could support herself while she finished her education and looked for a means of employment.

"Your parent's payed the full tuition fee of 19,348Galleons, 13 Sickles and 17Knuts when you were born. Your step-father wanted to ensure that you got an education even if they didn't survive the war." Sharpclaw answered after shifting through one of the documents in front of him.

"If my parents thought to pay the tuition, does that mean that put monetary support in place for my guardian?" Aileen questioned sharply.

"They did. Albus Dumbledore was able to get your guardianship granted to Petunia and Vernon Dursley's to protect you from various fractions who wish to take guardianship off you though it was not their right. Therefore, from the 9th of November 1981, every month 20 Galleons, which is 100 pounds, was transferred to Vernon Dursley's account. As of September of this year, that value will go down to 10Galleons, which is 50 pounds, a month."

Aileen stiffened in angered. "Are you telling me…" Aileen practically hissed through her teeth as she tried to calm herself down. "… that Vernon Dursley has been given 52000 pounds?"

"Yes," Sharpclaw answered hesitantly, noting the anger of his client.

"I want that money tracked, find out exactly what it was spent on. Starting immediately, I want a muggle account opened under the name of Petunia Evens and all money for my care transferred to that account with the specification that none of it can be transferred to Vernon Dursley." Aileen ordered sharply. She may not love her aunt, and her aunt may not like her, but she was still better then Vernon. She could also reason with Petunia, who had attempted (however feebly) to protect her over the years. Which would mean, she had no choice but to return to the Dursley's once she was finished here.

"I will ensure that everything is in place by tomorrow. What do you wish to do with the information from the previous spending?" Sharpclaw asked.

"Create a file that can be given to the muggle courts as proof of neglect when I ask for it." Aileen requested.

"It will be done."

"Thank you. Was there anything you wanted to discuss with me?" Aileen questioned, now that she had covered the most pressing matters.

"You need to appoint a guardian of your accounts." Sharpclaw said.

"What would they be doing in that role?" Aileen questioned.

"They would oversee the investments, making sure that you are not losing profit. If you are, then the investment would be sold. However, they would not be able to buy any new shares until you are fifteen and can sign off on it. They would go to your properties and assess their habitability. If a problem has occurred in the last ten years, then they can use the designated 'household allowance' to begin repairs. Over then that, they have no other duties until your fifteen, at which point they would oversee any business contracts or other such contracts you wish to peruse. They can be continued to work for you following your seventeenth as a financial adviser." Sharpclaw explained.

"And how is this different to your current role?" Aileen questioned.

"I monitor all money entering and leaving your account, ensuring that you are not being stolen from. It is my job to directly communicate with you about any problems you have with your account and see to your best interests." Sharpclaw explained.

"Are you capable of taking on the role of guardian of the accounts?" Aileen questioned.

"No, due to the self-interests of the client, these roles must be held by two people to ensure that if one of them is doing wrong by the client they will be caught by the other. This is also why most humans choose a human as the guardian of their account." Sharpclaw explained.

"Then could you propose to Griphook that I would like for him to take up the role. If he is unwilling to do so, then I trust you to find another goblin who is able of taking that place." Aileen decided.

"Are you certain that you wish a goblin to be the guardian of your accounts?" Sharpclaw questioned shocked.

"Yes, you have shown me no reason to distrust your race." Aileen answered decisively.

"Very well I will ensure it is done. The only other thing I wish to discuss with you, is the lack of correspondence. All previous letters we have sent to you have not been responded to."

"That would be because I didn't receive any mail." Aileen explained.

"There may be a mail ward around you." Sharpclaw frowned.

"Perhaps if you did not use my fall name. Send the letters to Alessa Evens." Aileen ordered. Since Alessa was one of her middle names, and Evens was her mother's maiden name, the letter should theoretically reach her without being stopped by a ward keyed to her name.

"That should work. I'll make a note on your file. If it doesn't work, you will have to return to the bank and do your business in person. I'll send a letter in three days to test it." Sharpclaw said.

"Very well. Is there any other business?" Aileen questioned. She was starting to feel very tired now, it had been a long few days.

"No, that was everything."

Word Count: 12,396

Copied: 3,418

Edited: 25/05/2017


	5. Chapter 5: The Beginning Edited

Okay, lets start with: I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER. I'm just happily playing in JK's sand box. I DON'T OWN PERCY JACKSON either. I'm only allowed to play on the swing sets (pouts).

So, the next thing on my list of things to put on the top of this story: I've used a lot of the book structure of the first four years. By this I mean Aileen will be face a troll, save a dragon, go down the third floor, be blamed for opening the chamber, reveal her parseltongue abilities in the dueling club, save Ginny and kill the basilisk, and confront Sirius at the end of third year. Aileen will also be entered into the goblet, however she will be complete the tasks completely differently to Harry. If you don't like stories that do this then this isn't the story for you. Although I divert most majorly from the story line after book four, there are points through the first four years were Aileen dose something that Harry would never do because that is the way I've portrayed my character.

And finally, I have heavily edited the first twenty four chapters. You need to re-read the entire story to understand what happens after that point because it all ties together. By heavily edited, I mean nearly 40% of my story has completely been re-written. There is better characterization, more realistic sword skills and a little bit more on the emotional explanation of my character.

* * *

Chapter 5: Year one: The Beginning

Aileen spent the night at the Leakey Cauldron, not wishing to attempt to cross London so late at night while she was feeling as tired as she was. If the monsters didn't attack her, then humans would. However, she rose early the next morning to go to a couple of second hand shops. Although she could afford to buy them new, she preferred to get second hand books since they had more 'character' and she quickly learnt that there was useful notes and hints written in the margins of most wizarding texts.

Once she had as many books as she felt she would need, Aileen headed to the mundane side of London. She found a cloths stores and quickly found some darkly shaded cloths that fit her, a pair of black shoes and some trainers. Then she went and found a stationary store. Although she would learn to write with a quill, she would prefer to write notes and such with normal, mundane equipment.

Finally, as it got close to ten, Aileen could no longer stall for time and she got the train back to Surrey. By the time she returned to the Dursley's it was one o'clock in the afternoon. Vernon's car was absent from the drive, indicating that he was at work, while Aileen could see Petunia through the kitchen window. She didn't know were Dudley was, but considering the tail he currently had, Aileen doubted that he had left the house.

Taking a fortifying breathe, Aileen entered the Dursley residence and headed straight to the kitchen. Petunia was sat at the table, drinking a cup of tea while reading one of her magazines.

"You!" Petunia hissed in anger when she spotted Aileen in the kitchen.

"Petunia, I need to talk with you about something." Aileen answered calmly, taking a seat at the table. Without Vernon present there wasn't a threat to her physical health and she was more than capable of talking her aunt down.

"If it's about your freak school, girl, you can think again." Petunia snapped, dropping her magazine on the table and making it get up.

"Where you aware that Vernon got a hundred pounds a month to take care of me?" Aileen asked bluntly.

Petunia slumped back into her seat, staring at her niece like she had never seen her before. "What on earth are you on about? We didn't receive any money for your upkeep. We were expected to pay for you out of our own pocket." Petunia snapped back.

"As of the 9th November 1981, Vernon has been receiving a hundred pounds each month to take care of me. Since none of that money has actually been spent on me, they are tracking down how and when that money was spent and compiling a file to give to child serves on my orders." Aileen explained calmly.

"Why are you telling me this?" Petunia demanded, her hands shaking as she realised that Aileen had the power to have them all arrested.

"Because you have tried, however feebly to protect me over the years. You kept me out of Vernon's way by giving me chores, and you endeavoured to try and give me something to eat as often as you could without drawing Vernon's attention. I don't know why you hate my mother, or why you hate magic, but at least you tried to ensure I lived. And if it wasn't for you, I would have never gone to school." Aileen explained.

"You're right. I don't love you, and I don't care for you. But you are still a child, no matter what you can do." Petunia slumped tiredly. "I always knew Vernon had a tempered, he has hit me before, but he was always quick to apologise. Then when I got pregnant with Dudley, I had no choice but to marry him because I couldn't support a child on my own. But once I was married to him, Vernon was no longer caring and loving. He didn't treat me nearly as bad as he treated you… but it was enough." Petunia admitted in defeat. "And then you appeared on our doorstep. And I couldn't turn you away, but I knew keeping you would make your life hell."

"My account manager is setting up a bank account under the name of Petunia Evens. I've put precautions in place to ensure that the money is not taken out and given to Vernon. Since I'm going to boarding school, only fifty pounds a month will be transferred over. I advise that you use the fact me and Dudley are leaving for boarding school as an excuse to get a part time job, perhaps working at the nursery. Save the money, and get a divorce." Aileen suggest.

"And what do you want in return?" Petunia questioned suspiciously.

"Do what you have always done, give me chores to keep me away from Vernon. Use Vernon's fear of abnormality against him, to allow me to keep my things with me. And try and start teaching Dudley discipline. Vernon has ruined him, but not beyond your ability to correct. Start cutting back on their meals, order to me cook healthier and more balanced food, sign Dudley up for Boxing or another sport like rugby, and start telling him no. If you don't then he will turn out exactly like his father, or worse and end up in prison." With her piece said, Aileen got up and headed to her room. She had books to sort out and begin reading.

Despite her understanding with Petunia, she wasn't able to prevent Vernon's anger when he got home from work that night. Although Aileen wasn't locked in the basement for more than a couple of nights a week, it still took a toll on her physical health. Normally she could go up to five days without receiving a beating, but it seemed Vernon was furious and trying to put the fear of god into Aileen to prevent her from saying anything. This meant she was tired, constantly in pain and having difficulty concentrating.

In order to try and counter this, Aileen slipped into the shops and brought food which she then stored under the floor boards in her room. She would complete the chores that Petunia assigned her (particularly on Saturday and Sunday) before retreating to her room.

While in her room, Aileen spent as much time reading as she could, making notes in the journals she had brought from the mundane shops. However, whenever the sun was out, she would escape the Dursleys and go to the part to read. Doing so got her some exercise (other than doing 'chin ups' while chained to the roof) because it was inevitable that the monsters found her if she was outside the Dursley's property.

Aileen learnt a lot from her books and was looking forward to doing proper magic. She would practise the wand movements with a stick she found in the park (she carved it down so it was identical in width and length as her actual wand) so that she could start committing the movements to muscle memory before she started casting spells. And she repeated the pronunciation of the spells (being fluent in Latin made this part easy) but she never actually cast the spells because she had read it was illegal for anyone under the age of seventeen to do magic outside of school.

During one of her more, depressing moments Aileen had taken the time to draw out a calendar for the entire year. Each month has its own page and above that the days was a drawing. During her time in the library she had read some non-fictions books and found herself really liking Tolkien's work. Because of this, she drew each of the members of the fellowship of the ring and to make up the missing numbers she included Elrond, Arwen and Erwin. Every morning she would cross of the day, counting down to September first and her freedom.

Knowing she wouldn't be able to make it to London on September the first on her own, without raising suspicion, she approach Vernon and Petunia the night before to talk with them. They were in the living room watching TV, waiting for Aileen to finish cooking their dinner. It seemed Petunia had taken on board some of Aileen's advice, since the TV show they were watching was a quiz show which she would normally watch on her own. By making Vernon and Dudley watch it, she was subtly getting Dudley to learn.

Aileen cleared her throat lightly to let the Dursley's know she was there and wanted to say something. "Sir?" Aileen addressed Vernon since they only owned the one car and Vernon wouldn't let Petunia drive it.

Vernon grunted to show he was listening.

"I need to be at King's Cross tomorrow to be able to get to school."

Vernon grunted again.

"Would it be all right if you gave me a lift?"

Grunt. Aileen had learnt to understand Vernon's non-verbal responses well over the years, so she was able to determine that he meant yes.

"Thank you."

She was about to go back to the kitchen when Vernon actually spoke.

"Funny way to get to a wizards' school, the train. Magic carpets all got punctures, have they?" Aileen didn't say anything. "Where is this school, anyway?"

"It's in Scotland" Aileen answered softly. "I just take the train from platform nine and three-quarters at eleven o'clock."

Vernon stared. "Platform what?"

"Nine and three-quarters." Aileen repeated, despite the fact that he had heard clearly the first time.

"Don't talk rubbish," said Vernon. "There is no platform nine and three-quarters."

"It's hidden." Aileen said since she had read about it one of her books – although it didn't mention how to actually get on or find the hidden platform.

"Barking," said Vernon, "howling mad, the lot of them. You'll see. You just wait. All right, we'll take you to King's Cross. We're going up to London tomorrow anyway, or I wouldn't bother."

Aileen woke early the next morning. Vernon had not chained her in the basement that night because they all needed to leave early and so it made more sense to have her awake and making breakfast before the household rose (something that had taken her several hours to convince him to be true).

Aileen had a quick (cold) shower (something that Petunia had long since convinced Vernon she needed to do as long as she didn't wake anyone up in the process) before pulling on a pair of black jeans and a tight long-sleeved green shirt that she had gotten to go under her wizarding cloths. She'd put the robes on when she was on the train to Hogwarts – she didn't want to draw the attention of the non-magicals in London.

She then grabbed her trunk and, with a bit of trouble, brought it downs stairs so that she could put it into the back of the car quicker. With everything ready Aileen started cooking breakfast. She just did scrambled eggs on toast. Before any of the Dursley's came down stairs she ate a banana and made a ham and lettuce sandwich to have on the train – if she was going to be starting a new school she didn't want to be lighted headed, or even faint, because she hadn't eaten anything.

It was nearly nine o'clock when the Dursley were finally ready to go, and Aileen's trunk had been placed into the car. It took Petunia an additional ten minutes to talk (read bribe) Dudley into getting into the back seat with Aileen (he was still very jumpy because of the whole magic incident, especially since they were going to see the doctor today to get it removed), and they began the painfully awkward ninety minute drive into London.

When they reached King's Cross, Aileen had only thirty minutes before she had to get onto the train. It was because of this that she was suspiciously grateful Vernon heaved her trunk out of the car and onto a cart as opposed to leaving her struggling with it. He then smiled nastily as he motioned to the platforms.

"Well, there you are. Platform nine — platform ten. Your platform should be somewhere in the middle, but they don't seem to have built it yet, do they?"

Then without another word, he turned on his heel and marched back to the car and drove away. Vernon and Dudley where laughing, while Petunia had turned, motioning to the wall she made the sign for walking with her fingers. Aileen nodded her understanding. Aileen sighed and looked at the wall between nine and ten curiously, her aunt wanted her to walk into the wall. Well she assumed that was what she meant, but it looked awfully solid to her.

At that moment a group of people passed just behind her and she caught a few words of what they were saying.

"— packed with Muggles, of course —"

Doubting that fate would be so kind, Aileen turned quickly on the spot to find a small army of red heads. The speaker was a middle aged women, wearing battered cloths that she imaged a stereotypical housewife would wear. Her red head was starting to turn slightly grey at the edges – and from the number of children Aileen couldn't couldn't blame her.

There were four boys, with the flaming red hair they inherited from their mother, wearing clearly second hand jeans and shirts and pushing battered trunks in front of them. The oldest boy also had an owl cage on top of his trunk. And then there was the youngest child, a girl who was holding her mother's hand as she looked around excitedly.

Even if the use of the word muggle, and the owl hadn't given this group away, Aileen's memory pulled up the image of her first trip to Diagon. The mother of the group had been there as well, complaining about the price of dragon's livers and from the state of their possessions Aileen imagined that such a complaint had been because of their poor financial situation (which she could easily imagine if all her children went to Hogwarts).

Trying to remain inconspicuous, Aileen followed the group with her eyes as they approached the barrier between platform's nine and ten, and came to a stop. Luckily they had stopped close enough that she could hear what they were saying, and there wasn't enough people on the platform to obscure their voices in a crowd.

"Now, what's the platform number?" the harassed mother questioned seriously. The eldest three exchanged amused looks while the youngest boy looked mildly confused – most likely wondering why their mother was asking since it was obvious they had to have been there before.

"Nine and three-quarters!" the girl pipped up excitedly, before turning pleading eyes on her mother. "Mom, can't I go…"

"You're not old enough, Ginny, now be quiet. All right, Percy, you go first."

The oldest boy – now dubbed Percy – took his que to begin marching towards the wall in the middle of the two platforms. Hoping that she would find out if her aunt was right – or playing a final trick on her in response to her words when she return from Diagon – Aileen kept a sharp eye on the boy in the hopes that she wouldn't miss it.

But it seemed fates kindness for the day had run its cause, because just as Percy reached the barrier her view was obstructed by a large crowd who were on their way past to the next platform. By the time they had passed, Percy was gone.

"Fred, you next," the mother said, turning to the two boys who appeared identical in appearance and clothing.

"I'm not Fred," the twin the mother was looking at responded, and Aileen noted that his smirk made him quite handsome. Then she quickly pushed such thoughts aside. Not only was he older then her, but she was far too young to be thinking of boys in such a way. "Honestly, woman, you call yourself our mother? Can't you tell I'm George?"

"Sorry, George, dear." The mother was quick to apologise, obviously used to getting the name of her son's wrong. And wasn't that just sad. Whether they were identical twins or not, their own mother should have learnt to tell the difference between them long before now.

"Only joking, I am Fred," it seemed the twins agreed, because his shoulder's sagged slightly when his mother apologised instead of discounted his words. Before anyone could notice his cheer was false, he turned and ran at the barrier. His equally handsome twin(which she really shouldn't be thinking)called after him to hurry up,and took off after him.

Both of the twins disappeared into the barrier – or rather the very solid looking wall – but she still didn't know how they had done it. And she didn't want to risk running into the wall and attracting the attention of the non-magical guard because she wasn't brave enough to ask for help.

"Excuse me," Aileensaidpolitely as she stepped forward.

"Hello, dear," she said, turning and offering a king smile when she realised that Aileen was most likely a first year. "First time at Hogwarts? Ron's new, too." She pointed at the last and youngest of her sons. He was tall, thin, and gangling, with freckles, big hands and feet, and a long nose.

"Yes, ma'am" saidAileen. "Unfortunately the professor who introduced me to this world didn't inform me as to how to-"

"How to get onto the platform?" she finished kindly, and Aileen nodded. "Not to worry. All you have to do is walk straight at the barrier between platforms nine and ten. Don't stop and don't be scared you'll crash into it, that's very important. Best do it at a bit of a run if you're nervous. Go on, go now before Ron."

"Thank you ma'am," Aileen bowed her head slightly in thanks before turning to face the wall separating the magical from the non-magical.

It looked very solid.

She started to walk toward it, she never let fear stop her before and she was not about to let it stop her now. People jostled her on their way to platforms nine and ten. Aileen walked more quickly. When she hit the wall at a light jog Aileen felt a slight tingle of magic from the barrier. She smiled and pulled her trolley to a stop just out of the way of the barrier so that she could look around.

She had done it.

She was now on a completely different platform, that didn't have any of the modern additions that King Cross had. It still had all the old brick walls showing and there were no shops along the platform. From her left, there were a row of fireplaces which people were stepping out off. Further along, hurried parents were appearing from thin air clutching their faintly ill looking children.

Stood proud and centre, at the heart of the platform, was a long scarlet steam engine. It looked long enough to fit five hundred people comfortably, but Aileen had read in Hogwarts A History that the carriages were capable of internal expansion for when the Hogwarts pupil intake was greater but since the last two wars there had been a serious decline in students. Shaking off those morbid thoughts, Aileen began wondering through the crowds and towards the carriages to find somewhere to sit.

The platform was loud, Owls hooted between each other (obviously displeased that they were caged), cats darted between legs and tripped careless feet. Everyone was lost in their own little world as parents said goodbye to their children, and pupils called out to friends in greeting – discussing their summers.

Since Aileen had arrived so late, the first few carriages she passed were filled with students, so she didn't bother slowing down as she started walking towards the back of the train hopping that the students weren't as enthusiastic about getting a compartment at the bag, which would leave her with a seat – hopefully without anyone in it because she had already had her daily fill with interacting with people and being surrounded by strangers and she really wasn't sure how much she could take before she broke since she hadn't had her control tested so violently before (not even in Diagon Alley because there hadn't been as many people and there had been more space for movement and breathing).

She passed a round-faced boy who was saying, "Gran, I've lost my toad again."

"Oh, Neville," the old women he was talking to sighed. She was tall, carrying a red hand bag and for some reason wearing a vulture on her head. She appeared very strict and disproving of her grandson who was staring at his Gran's feet and fighting back tears as he hunched in on himself.

Near the middle of the train she passed a boy with dreadlocks who was surrounded by a small crowd of excited students. Most of them appeared to be boys and the occasional girl who had been pulled into the mix of students rather reluctantly.

"Give us a look, Lee, go on."

The boy lifted the lid of a box in his arms, and the people around him shrieked and yelled as something inside poked out a long, hairy leg revealing why most of the students were boys. Aileen had found in her primary years that girls were generally more squeamish about spiders, insects and dirt. It was a foolish luxury she had never been allowed with her living in the spider infested cupboard under the stairs and being forced to work in the garden.

Aileen pressed on through the crowd until she found an empty compartment near the end of the train. She put Hedwig inside first and then started to lift her trunk into the train as well; however people kept bumping into her, knocking the trunk from her hand. She was also struggling to lift the trunk with both hands because Vernon had broken her wrist and three of her fingers on her left hand before they left the house as a reminder not to tell anyone.

"Want a hand?" It was one of the han… twins she'd followed through the barrier.

"Yes, please," Aileen said gratefully, smiling shyly at the older boy and mentally berating herself for it.

"Oy, Fred! C'mere and help!" he shouted down the corridor of the train, and moments later his brother appeared.

Together, the three of them were able to get Aileen's trunk onto the train and together lifted the awkward sized trunk onto the racks. Who ever thought it was a good idea to put the luggage storage above the student's heads was an idiot, especially if everyone's trunks were as heavy as hers. Even if they weren't heavy, they were hard to lift and manoeuvre because of their shape. It would have made more sense to have storage under the seats or a carriage just for the luggage.

"Thanks," saidAileen gratefully, turning to face the twins who stood in her compartment. "I'm Aileen by the way." She introduced realising she had been reminisce in her manners.

"I'm Fred," the one who had first offered to help introduced,

"And I'm George." They both offered their hands for her to shake. Aileen had to cross her hands over so that she could shake hands with both of them.

"Well then it was pleasure to meet you, Fred, George." Aileen said nodding to each twin (but opposite to the one who had introduced themselves as).

"How did you know I wasn't Fred? Not even our family can do that." George demanded.

"Because you were the one to first offer to me help and you called for Fred to come and help you." Aileen answered with a confused frown; not understanding how people could not see the difference between the two now that she was closer and could seem them both better.

Fred was taller, his eyes brighter and he had more freckles. George had broader shoulders and a more dominate chin. He also had a very tinny scar above his right eye. Their voices were different as well, Fred's was smoother but George's had a very nice gravel to it. She was sure that if she spent time with them then she would also start noticing differences in their personalities as well.

"No one has been able to tell us apart before -"

"- well accept our oldest brother Bill."

"Charlie and dad aren't too bad but even they stumble sometimes."

"No one has ever been able to tell us apart the first time." George finished the tennis like explanation.

Before Aileen could say anything a voice came floating in through the train's open door.

"Fred? George? Are you there?"

"Coming, Mom." They both shouted before offering Aileen a salute and a wink and disappearing down the train.

Aileen sat down next to the window, half hidden in shadow, so she could watch the red-haired family on the platform and hear what they were saying through the open window. While she listened, Aileen pulled out the bandages from her bag as well as some small splits so that she could set her wrist and fingers – it had seriously hurt shaking hands with the twins like she had done, but luckily never of them had a tight grip.

Fred and George's mother had pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and made to attack her youngest son with it. "Ron, you've got something on your nose."

The youngest boy – now dumbed Ron – obviously embarrassed by his mother's fussing tried to jump out of the way but she was quicker and grabbed him. She then presided to rub the side of his nose with a frown.

"Mom— geroff" He wriggled free.

"Aaah, has ickle Ronnie got somefink on his nosie?" said George.

"Shut up," Ron grumbled blushing to the tips of his ears.

"Where's Percy?" said their mother.

"He's coming now." Fred pointed down the platform, after he and his brother exchanged looks down the platform.

The Percy came striding into sight. He had already changed into his billowing black Hogwarts robes, and Aileen noticed a red and gold badge on his chest with the letter P on it – a prefect, so he was probably in his fifth or sixth year.

"Can't stay long, Mother," he said. "I'm up front, the prefects have got two compartments to themselves —"

"Oh, are you a prefect, Percy?" said Fred with an air of great surprise. "You should have said something, we had no idea."

"Hang on, I think I remember him saying something about it," said George

"Once —"

"Or twice —"

"A minute —"

"All summer —"

"Oh, shut up," said Percy, the newly appointed - fifth year - prefect.

"How come Percy gets new robes, anyway?" said George with a slight frown on his smiling face.

"Because he's a prefect," said their mother fondly, but Aileen noticed the three oldest exchanged a look that said many things. "All right, dear, well, have a good term — send me an owl when you get there."

She kissed Percy on the cheek and he left after nodding to both the twins and giving his little sister a hug. Then she turned to the twins.

"Now, you two — this year, you behave yourselves. If I get one more owl telling me you've — you've blown up a toilet or —"

"Blown up a toilet? We've never blown up a toilet." Aileen allowed a smile to appear on her face at the bright tone in Fred's voice that turned into a smirk as George continued:

"Great idea though, thanks, Mom."

"It's not funny. And look after Ron."

"Don't worry, ickle Ronniekins is safe with us." They intoned together.

"Shut up," said Ron again. He was almost as tall as the twins already and his nose was still pink where his mother had rubbed it.

A whistle sounded.

"Hurry up!" their mother said, and the three boys clambered onto the train. They leaned out of the window for her to kiss them good-bye, and their younger sister began to cry.

"Don't, Ginny, we'll send you loads of owls." George smiled reassuringly at his sister.

"We'll send you a Hogwarts' toilet seat." Fred added with a wink.

"George!"

"Only joking, Mom." Fred rolled his eyes while George winked at their sister who was giggling.

Not wanting to see the final interactions of the families on the platform and the students on the train, Aileen leaned back into her seat. When the train finally pulled out of the station and started to pick up speed, Aileen smiled as excitement curled her stomach. She wasn't entirely certain where they were going, and what would happen, but she knew it was going to be better then what she was leaving behind.

The door of the compartment slid open and Ronald came in.

"Anyone sitting there?" he asked, pointing at the seat opposite Aileen. "Everywhere else is full."

"The seat's free," Aileen said softly before getting up and helping the boy with his trunk, which she noticed was very battered.

"Thanks," he muttered once they had both claimed a seat.

He glanced at Aileen and then looked quickly out of the window, pretending he hadn't looked. Aileen saw he still had a black mark on his nose but it was slightly red from where his mother had been rubbing it. They fell into an awkward silence since Aileen wasn't sure how to start a conversation with someone her own age, and Ronald seemed embarrassed about being in the same compartment as her.

"Hey, Ron."

The twins were back.

"Listen, we're going down the middle of the train — Lee Jordan's got a giant tarantula down there." Fred explained.

"Right," mumbled Ron.

"Aileen, has he introduced himself yet." George said motioning to their brother. Ron turned scarlet causing the twins to chuckle.

"This is Ron, our brother."

"See you later, then." They both bowed slightly.

"Bye," said Aileen and Ron. The twins slid the compartment door shut behind them.

They both sat in silence, Aileen enjoying the scenery but Ron kept shifting uncomfortably in his seat. Aileen sighed softly before deciding to engage the other in a conversation.

"Are all your family wizards?" askedAileen, figuring it was probably a safe topic.

"Er — Yes, I think so," said Ron. "I think Mom's got a second cousin who's an accountant, but we never talk about him."

"So you must know loads of magic already." The Weasleys were clearly one of those old wizarding families – pureblood she thought she rememberedreading- the pale boy in Diagon Alley had talked about.

"Not really _._ You live with Muggles?" said Ron. "What are they like?"

"They're alright, not the best but I now quite a few other non-magicals who are very good. I just got the short straw on the family department." Aileen explained, smiling slightly to stop the boy from looking to deeply into what she was saying. "How many siblings do you have?" Aileen asked curiously since Fred and George mentioned a Bill and a Charlie which were both names she didn't hear on the platform.

"There are seven of us," said Ron. For some reason, he was looking gloomy. "I'm the sixth in our family to go to Hogwarts. You could say I've got a lot to live up to. Bill and Charlie have already left — Bill was head boy and now he works as a curse breaker at Gringotts; he gets to travel a lot. Charlie was captain of the Quidditch team butnow he works at a dragon reserve in Romania because he turned down a place on the English Quidditch team. Now Percy's a prefect. Fred and George mess around a lot, but they still get really good marks and everyone thinks they're really funny. Everyone expects me to do as well as the others, but if I do, it's no big deal, because they did it first. Then there's Ginny, she's the youngest and the only girl so she already has that working for her. You never get anything new, either, with five brothers. I've got Bill's old robes, Charlie's old wand, and Percy's old rat."

Ron reached inside his jacket and pulled out a fat grey rat, which was asleep. "His name's Scabbers and he's useless, he hardly ever wakes up. Percy got an owl from my dad for being made a prefect, but they couldn't aff — I mean, I got Scabbers instead." Ron's ears went pink. He seemed to think he'd said too much, because he went back to staring out of the window.

"There's nothing wrong with not having enough money to afford a pet, I didn't have any money before last month. And you're probably good at lots of things you just don't know it yet, try your hardest at whatever you do and your family will be proud." Aileen said. When he still looked gloomy Aileen continued. "Beside you probably know more important things about the wizarding world then I do, like how the ministry works and such."

"Yeah but everyone knows that," Ron grumbled.

Aileen spent the next few hours discussing the merits of being wizarding raised. Easily finding things that Ron knew that she didn't, such as the general consensus to not say Voldemort's name.

After a while the touched upon Quidditch and Ron's eyes light up as he began explaining the game and the teams on the league table. Aileen let him talk and just listened. She was used to interacting with people her age, so she was glad they had reached a topic that didn't require a lot of her active participation.

Around half past twelve, Ron was interrupted by the door opening to reveal a smiling women pushing a cart full of sweets. "Anything off the cart, dears?"

Ron's ears went pink again and he muttered that he'd brought sandwiches. Aileen hesitated before she went out into the corridor. She never really had any candy or anything with a lot of sugar or sat in, so she knew her body wouldn't be used to it. But she could buy some now, and then store it over the school year, having one every now and then and sharing wither friends.

Looking over the cart Aileen found so many different types f sweets, and she didn't recognise any from the large pile Dudley always had access to. This only mildly surprised her – off cause the wizarding world would have completely different sweets. Although it would mean she would have to be even more careful with her intake because she didn't know the content of the sweets.

Deciding that she might as well try everything, Aileen brought a pack off everything, although she brought two bottles of pumpkin juice (the only drink available). When she dumped everything on the chair she started shifting things into two piles. The blood pops, liquorice wands, Drooble's best blowing gum, pumpkin pasties and various other sweets were placed into her trunk. The only things she kept out were a box of Bettie Bott's every flavour bean (since they intrigued her and seemed like the sort of sweets to have a laugh over), a stack of chocolate frogs (although the majority of these did disappear into her trunk) and cauldron cakes.

Ron sat in his seat staring in confusion at Aileen's actions. When she returned to her seat with the sandwich she had packed he seemed even more confused.

"I've not tried any wizarding sweets. I figured it's best to slowly introduce myself to it and you can help me get through these," Aileen motioned to the seat.

"Are you sure?" Ron asked hesitantly although he was alternatively staring at his sandwiches in disgust and the sweets in longing.

"Yeah I'm sure, and that bottle of pumpkin juice is yours." Aileen encouraged while she unwrapped her sandwich.

"Thanks, my mum always forgets I don't like corned beef." Ron abandoned the sandwich on the seat as he picked up one of the cauldron cakes.

"Is pumpkin juice the normal drink?" Aileen asked hesitantly after she took a sip. It was very sweet, and think. She doubted she could drink a lot of it and especially not every day.

"For kids, yeah." Ron nodded. "Bill was complaining in his final two years about how hard it is to get tea or coffee at Hogwarts. Fred and George said they were going to find the kitchens so they could get coffee. I hope they haven't found item they are a right nightmare when on coffee." Ron shuddered as though remembering a particularly terrible memory.

"Then I hope we have jugs of water," Aileen decided since she was used to only having water. She had never tried tea or coffee before, she didn't need it to wake up and she didn't want to acquire a taste for it if she won't be able to drink it when she returned to the Dursleys.

"Don't you like it?" Ron asked shocked as he opened his own bottle and drained half of it.

"Not particularly. It's a bit too sweet for my tastes." Aileen answered.

"Well they do have water, and in the mornings milk." Ron answered even if he didn't understand how Aileen couldn't like it. But then again, he couldn't understand how Percy liked corned beef.

"Can I have a frog?" Ron asked nodding to a box that had lay untouched. "I might get Agrippa — thanks —"

"What do you mean Agrippa?" Aileen asked curiously after passing Ron the box.

She was halfway through her sandwich and already feeling quite fall. She was contemplating wrapping it up and eating it in an hour or so. It would probably be better for her body to get used to food if she ate little and often instead of trying to stick to three big meals a day that most people ate until she was used to consuming a relatively normal amount of food.

"Oh, of course, you wouldn't know — Chocolate Frogs have cards, inside them, you know, to collect — famous witches and wizards. I've got about five hundred, but I haven't got Agrippa or Ptolemy." Ron unwrapped the Chocolate Frog, catching the chocolate before it could jump away and shoving it in his mouth. He then turned his attention to the card. It showed a man's face. He wore half-moon glasses, had a long, crooked nose, and flowing silver hair, beard, and moustache. Underneath the picture was the name Albus Dumbledore. On the back Aileen could see some information written about the man.

ALBUS DUMBLEDORE  
CURRENTLY HEADMASTER OF HOGWARTS  
Considered by many the greatest wizard of modern times, Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindewald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel. Professor Dumbledore enjoys chamber music and tenpin bowling.

"Dame, Dumbledore again. I've got like twelve of him. Do you want it? You can start collecting." Aileen took the card from him and placed it gently next to her.

Ron's eyes strayed to the pile of Chocolate Frogs waiting to be unwrapped.

"Help yourself," said Aileen encouraged with a laugh.

Ron was more interested in eating the frogs than looking at the Famous Witches and Wizards cards, but Aileen couldn't keep her eyes off them – the information found on the back of them maybe little but it was still information about the history of the world she was entering and the people they held in regard. Every time Ron opened a card with a witch or wizard in it that he already had, he would pass it to Aileen who was determined to look them up in the library as soon as she could and fine out more about the history the world she was entering the people that had helped shape it.

By the time that Ron had eaten all the chocolate frogs that Aileen had kept out, she had not only Dumbledore but also Morgana, Hengist of Woodcroft, Alberic Grunnion, Circe, Parascelsus, Cliodna, Helga Hufflepuff and Merlin. Some of the names – Circe, Parascelsus, Morgana and Merlin – were famous enough that legends of them had spread over into the non-magical world. Parascelsus was a potion master and alchemist, whose influence in the non-magical world helped developed toxicology and was the most resent on the wizard's names that appeared in the non-magical world and the only one they believed to have actually existed.

After the chocolate frogs were gone, they moved onto the every flavour beans which she actually had some. Like she had predicted it was great fun to try and guess what flavour the bean was and avoid the more horrible flavours. According to Ron Aileen got very lucky with toast, coconut, baked bean, strawberry, curry, grass, coffee, sardine, and pepper (which was a furry grey one Ron refused to even try). Ron wasn't so lucky with egg, grass, cabbage, tomato, salt, dirt, soap, sprouts and burnt toast.

There journey was more than half over, the scenery outside becoming more wild, neat fields and cities being replaced by woods, rivers, green hills and small villages. Ron had decided to take it upon himself to explain some more of the wizarding sweets that were available and not just the ones Aileen had brought, when they were interrupted by a knock at the compartment door.

Aileen opened the door to reveal the young boy who was slightly round faced, that she remembered from the platform as having lost his toad. He looked tearful, and was looking down at Aileen's feet instead of look at her face like someone with more self-confidence would have done.

"Hello, can I help?" Aileen asked when the boy – Neville she though his Gran had called him – didn't make to say anything.

"It's just… I was wondering… have you seen a toad?" the maybe-Neville asked his voice slightly wavering with how upset he was.

"No, sorry," Aileen answered, turning to Ron to see if he had spotted a toad.

"Nope," Ron said when he saw her questioning look.

"I've lost him! He keeps getting away from me!" the maybe-Neville wailed in distress and frustration.

"He'll turn up," said Aileen soothingly, feeling sorry for the boy. If she had lost Hedwig – despite only having her for a month – she would probably be just as upset as the boy as well.

"Yes," said the boy miserably. "Well, if you see him…" he left without another word.

"Don't know why he's so bothered," said Ron. "If I'd brought a toad I'd lose it as quick as I could. Mind you, I brought Scabbers, so I can't talk." The rat was still snoozing on Ron's lap. "He might have died and you wouldn't know the difference," said Ron in disgust.

"Are you allowed a rat?" Aileen asked curiously. "I thought we were only allowed a toad, a cat or an owl?"

"Well Percy brought him to Hogwarts before me, so I don't think it will be a problem. It think that list is to stop people from bringing something like a dog or a snake to Hogwarts with them which are harder to control and require more attention." Ron explained. "Hey, do you want to see a spell. Fred and George taught it to me, it turn's Scabbers yellow to make him more interesting?"

"Sure," Aileen agreed, although she was slightly doubtful that it wold work. From what Ron had said, and she had seen, Fred and George were prankster so she doubted they would have given Ron an actual spell to turn his rat yellow.

Ron pulled his wand out of his pocket. It looked very battered, and there was something white hanging out of the end. "Unicorn hair's nearly poking out. Anyway —"

He had just raised his wand when the compartment door slid open again. The maybe-Neville was back, but this time he had a girl with him. She was already wearing her new Hogwarts robes, which looked brand new and didn't have any house colours on so Aileen assumed she was also in first year. From what Aileen could tell, the girl was taller than her or at least her puffy hair made her look taller and her skin was tanned which indicated that she had been out of Britain recently.

"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one," she said she said in a slightly bossy and informative tone of voice that made Aileen think of how a book would sound if it could talk.

"We've already told him we haven't seen it," said Ron, but the girl wasn't listening, she was looking at the wand in his hand.

"Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it, then." The girl invited herself to sit down, as she demanded Ron perform magic in a bossy tone that didn't quite manage to hide her excitement. Neville and Aileen shared a slightly incredulous look while Ron looked taken back at the looks audacity and forwardness.

"Er — all right." Ron cleared his throat:

"Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow."

He waved his wand, but nothing happened. Scabbers stayed grey and fast asleep.

"Are you sure that's a real spell?" the girl asked, scepticism and disappointment in her tone "Well, it's not very good, is it? I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and it's all worked for me. Nobody in my family's magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, I've heard — I've learned all our course books by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough — I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?" She said all this very fast and Aileen was sure she hadn't taken a single breath.

"I'm sure you have done more than enough to prepare yourself for this world. Most non-magical borns probably haven't even read their course books, let alone memorised them. This is Ronald Weasley…"

"I prefer Ron," Ron muttered.

"…and I'm Aileen Potter," Aileen finished, having been the only one to not stare in dumpfundalled shock. She was used to picking up information and orders from her aunt who sometimes spoke very fast or gave her instructions between talking with her husband. If Hermione always talked like that, then at least Aileen wouldn't get out of practice while she was at Hogwarts.

"Are you really?" said Hermione. "I know all about you, of course — I got a few extra books, for background reading, and you're in Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century."

"Now why on earth would I been in so many history books?" Aileen frowned slightly, she had not brought all of the books Hermione had listed but she had read Modern Magical History and it only included a small snippet on her. She hoped that the others had done the same and not attempted to make her appear to be some great and powerful warrioress.

"Goodness, didn't you know, I'd have found out everything I could if it was me," said Hermione. "Do either of you know what house you'll be in? I've been asking around, and I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best; I hear Dumbledore himself was in it, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad… Anyway, we'd better go and look for Neville's toad. You two had better change, you know, I expect we'll be there soon." And she left, taking Neville with her.

Aileen blinked in shock once the hail storm that was Hermione Granter left. Her personality came across as over barring but Aileen felt like she was trying to impress them. Make herself seem worthy of magic and maybe, of having friends. The way she talked also hinted to a lack of social interaction meaning she was either Home Schooled or bullied in Primary School. She was leaning towards the latter option due to her rather impressive reading of books.

"Whatever house I'm in, I hope she's not in it," said Ron _._

"Ron, you don't know anything about her. Don't judge a person on first meetings – you never know if you'll actually get along." Aileen frowned disapprovingly at Ron who looked down at the damaged wand he still held in his hand.

He stuffed the wand back into his pocket. "Stupid spell — I bet the twins knew it was a dud."

"What house are your brothers in?" Aileen asked, trying to change the subject in the hopes that talking about houses would stop the boy from sulking since she wouldn't know how to handle that.

"Gryffindor," said Ron. Gloom seemed to be settling on him again. "Mom and Dad were in it, too. I don't know what they'll say if I'm not. I don't suppose Ravenclaw would be too bad, but imagine if they put me in Slytherin." He flopped back into his seat, looking depressed.

"I'm sure that your parents would love you no matter what house you were in." Aileen said softly but it did not seem to work and they fell into an awkward silence.

"Did you hear about Gringotts? It's been all over the Daily Prophet, but I don't suppose you get that with the Muggles — someone tried to rob a high security vault." Ron said after a moment, realising the he had created an awkward silence that Aileen didn't know how to handle. If his mum or older brothers had heard him they would having given him a right talking too _._

"Really? What did they want and what happened to them?" Aileen asked, curious as to why someone would try and rob one of Gringotts vaults and grateful that Ron came up with a conversation topic they could discuss.

"Nothing, that's why it's such big news. They haven't been caught. My dad says it must've been a powerful Dark wizard to get round Gringotts, but they don't think they took anything, that's what's odd. Course, everyone gets scared when something like this happens in case You-Know-Who's behind it."

"Were the goblins alright?" she asked concerned.

"I don't know, it wasn't mentioned."

Aileen turned all this news over in her mind. She was starting to get a prickle of fear every time You-Know-Who was mentioned. She supposed this was all part of entering the magical world, but she had been a lot more comfortable saying "Voldemort" without was also angered at the blatant show of discrimination towards the Goblin race – they were more worried about the fact that a vault might have been robbed then the fact that a goblin could have been harmed. The Wizarding world was not superior to the goblin race (she had read up on their race and other magical creatures in the wizarding world so that she didn't attack them on sight, mistakenly thinking they were some kind of monsters come to kill her).

It was at this point that they were interrupted once again. However, the intruder didn't knock on the door this time, and it wasn't Hermione or Neville on the other side. Instead it was the pale boy that Aileen had met at Madam Malkin's robe shop, flanked by two boys there were quite large and by their placement's probably bodyguards. The pale-boy was showing more interest in Aileen then he had done in Madam Malkin's.

"Is it true?" he said. "They're saying all down the train that Aileen Potter's in this compartment. So it's you, is it?"

"Yes, although who could have told everyone that, I don't know. Since the only other people outside of Ron here, who knows who I am are not likely to spread the news" said Aileen, but she wasn't looking at the pale boy. Instead she was keeping an eye on the two bodyguards.

"Oh, this is Crabbe and this is Goyle," said the pale boy carelessly, noticing where Aileen was looking. "And my name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."

Ron gave a slight cough, which might have been hiding a snigger, while Aileen also had to supress a laugh but for a different reason. Ron had probably laughed because he thought the name was funny, Aileen however was reminded of 'Bond, James Bond' with the way that Draco had said his name. But she couldn't laugh or return the greeting because Aileen very much doubted that Draco would understand the unintentional quote since it was quite obvious he didn't like the non-magical world.

Draco Malfoy looked at him. "Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford." He turned back to Aileen. "You'll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there."

He held out his hand to shake Aileen's, but she didn't take it.

"I think I am more than capable of deciding who to be friends' with."She rebuked politely.

Draco Malfoy didn't go red, but a pink tinge appeared in his pale cheeks as he realised that he had embarrassed himself.

"I'd be careful if I were you, Potter," he said slowly. "Unless you're a bit politer you'll go the same way as your parents. They didn't know what was good for them, either. You hang around with riffraff like the Weasleys and that Hagrid, and it'll rub off on you."

Ron jumped to his feet and Aileen also stood when it looked like the boy was about to launch himself at Malfoy. She gently placed a hand on his arm to hold him back as she looked at Malfoy with a blank face.

"This is what I mean about deciding who I should be friends with. You barged into this compartment without knocking, you did not introduce yourself right away, and you just demanded information. Then you insulted a member of this compartment, who I am quite obviously friends with, not once but twice. And to top all that of you insulted my parents. So you need to make up your mind Mr Malfoy: pull your head out of your arse and realise that you aren't better than anyone else or leave." Aileen said softly, her eyes hardening to emeralds as she locked eyes with him.

Malfoy just sneered, turned and left the compartment, obviously not sure how to reply to her ultimatum.

"You've met Malfoy before?" Ron asked once they had retaken their seats and he had calmed down.

"At madam Malkin's," Aileen said.

Which led to Ron explaining how Draco's family were known for being allied with the Dark, and how his father once followed Voldemort. But when Voldemort was defeated, they came over to the light, claiming that they had been bewitched and so Draco's dad got off without any trouble. Ron's dad had never believed the lie, saying that the man was to cold and dark to need an excuse to join the dark.

Aileen frowned as Ron explained this all in a dark voice. Even if what he was saying about Mr Malfoy was true – and she had doubts because there was an obvious history between the families – she refused to judge a child on the faults of their parents. Draco was only eleven, and this was probably the first time he was getting out from under the influence of his parents. She would give him a few years to develop into his own person before deciding whether he was a lost cause.

"Can we help you with something?" Ron demanded of Hermione who had appeared at their compartment door moments after Draco had left. She probably hadn't been that far away when she heard the conversation and decided to investigate.

"You'd better hurry up and put your robes on, I've just been up to the front to ask the conductor, and he says we're nearly there." And with that Hermione disappeared out of the compartment once again.

Aileen peered out of the window. It was getting dark. She could see mountains and forests under a deep purple sky. The train did seem to be slowing down.

Aileen grabbed her uniform and left the compartment to go and find a toilet to change in. She would only be putting the uniform on top of the cloths she was wearing now but she knew that the other students would not be doing that (Ron had started taking off his shirt before Aileen could leave the compartment).

Aileen had just returned to the compartment when avoice echoed through the train:

"We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately."

Aileen took a deep breath to calm her nerves and Ron, she saw, looked pale under his freckles. Aileen waited with Ron inside the compartment until the train had slowed to a stop as opposed to trying to force themselves out into the rapidly filling corridor. She had recovered since the platform, but since she was no doubt about to attend a feast, she would need all the control she could get and there was no point in pushing herself when there was no point.

Once the train had come to a stop, the students started rushing out onto the tiny, dark platform. Once the flow of students a lessened a bit, Aileen and Ron followed them out. Aileen shivered alongside everybody else when they stepped off the train. The wind was cold in Scotland, and since it was September, it was not a damp cold so it had a greater effect on her then if it had been raining.

Then a lamp came bobbing over the heads of the students, and Aileen heard a familiar voice: "Firs' years! Firs' years over here! All right there, Aileen?" Hagrid's big hairy face beamed over the sea of heads. "C'mon, follow me — any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!"

Slipping and stumbling, they followed Hagrid down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. It was so dark on either side of them that Aileen thought there must be thick trees there. Nobody spoke much. Neville, the boy who kept losing his toad, sniffed once or twice. Obviously he hadn't be able to find his toad before getting of the train and Aileen felt bad for him. Losing his pet on the first night at a new school.

"Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over his shoulder, "jus' round this bend here."

There was a loud "Ooooohh!"

The dark and narrow path had opened at the edge of a lake to reveal Hogwarts perched high top a mountain. Aileen suddenly understood why the first years took this route to the castle, it was an amazing and majestic sight. The castle reached high into the sky with his turrets and towers, the windows were light with a bright light and the walls seemed to glisten happily under the starry sky.

"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. Aileen and Ron were followed into their boat by Neville and Hermione.

"Everyone in?" shouted Hagrid, who had a boat to himself. "Right then — FORWARD!"

And the fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood. Aileen allowed her hand to glide in the water, the fresh lake water comforting her although it was not as calming as the sea water. Not long after her hand went into the water she felt the scales of a large fish and started gentle stroking it until they got too close to the cliff for the fish to follow. Aileen pulled back her hand to see that it had remained perfectly dry.

"Heads down!" yelled Hagrid as the first boats reached the cliff; they all bent their heads despite the fact that the curtain of ivy wasn't low enough to touch even the tallest first year, although Hagrid did indeed need to duck. The ivy was hiding a long tunnel which seemed to lead right under the castle. The boats came to rest at what appeared to be an underground harbour and everyone climbed out of the boats and onto the wooden platform which led to a set of steps which winded up beside the cliff and to the grass on the grounds of Hogwarts.

"Oy, you there! Is this your toad?" said Hagrid, who was checking the boats as people climbed out of them to make sure nothing was left behind.

"Trevor!" cried Neville blissfully, holding out his hands. Aileen blinked in confusion. If Neville had lost the toad on the train, how had it ended up on the boats and why hadn't the students in the boat with the toad noticed its presence.

As Aileen had predicted the steps led up to the damp grass, which were in the shadows of the castle. They walked around the side of the building and approached the stone steps which led to the huge, oak front door which they crowded around.

"Everyone here?" Hagrid looked around, making sure he hadn't lost a student on the trek up to the castle, before he raised his fist and knocked three times on the door.

The door swung open at once. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. She had a very stern face and Aileen's first thought was that this was not someone to cross.

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid.

"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."

She pulled the door wide. The entrance hall was so big you could have fit the whole of the Dursleys' house in it. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches like the ones at Gringotts, the ceiling was too high to make out, and a magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors. Lining the walls of the staircases was the first year's suitcases and Aileen spotted Hedwig's empty cage. Thinking quickly she darted forward and grabbed it before motioning to Neville to put his toad in. Neville smiled gratefully once Trevor was safely placed with the other luggage and they both turned to catch up with the rest of their year who had not noticed what had happened.

Professor McGonagall led the silent group across the flagged stone (and Aileen meant real flagstone, that from the wear and tear had been there since the school was wounded, not that fake stuff muggles used in their dining rooms and kitchens) floor. From behind the only door in the entrance hall (once again an impressive two pieces door made of oak, only slightly smaller than the main doors) Aileen could hear the faint drone of the voices. It seemed the route the older students took to the school was much quicker than the boat ride and the climbing of steps that the first years had to do.

McGonagall led them to a small doorway of the side of where the other students were. The door led to an empty chamber which was just big enough to comfortable fit the group although they were stood in clustered and looking around nervously. Aileen was allowing Ron, Hermione and Neville to cluster closer to her then she normally would as the uncertainty and newness of the situation started seeping in.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall her voice just as stern and strict as her appearance. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts."

Aileen frowned slightly at that. The Dursley's were supposed to have been her family, and she hated it there. She hoped that perhaps her luck with families wouldn't hold true and Hogwarts would be a new start for her and she would find some good friends to call her own. And perhaps she could get a family of the heart as opposed to family of blood.

"You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room. The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honour.

I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours. The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."

Her eyes lingered for a moment on Neville's cloak, which was fastened under his left ear, and on Ron's smudged nose. It seemed most of the first years had made the attempt to look presentable, but there would always be one or two who didn't.

"I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall. "Please wait quietly."

She left the chamber.

Aileen turned to Neville and helped him fasten his cloak properly before giving Ron a wet-wipe so that he could remove the smudge he was futilely scrubbing at. With the boys sorted Aileen's eyes darted to Hermione who was whispering very fast about all the spells she'd learned and wondering which one she'd need. Some of the girls were looking at her with disgust on their faces so Aileen made her decision and pulled Hermione slightly off to the side.

"Hermione, please don't be offend, but will you let me sort out your hair?" Aileen asked softly, cutting of her muttering.

"It's impossible, not even my hair dresser could do anything about it." Hermione muttered once she realised that Aileen truly did not mean to insult her.

"Will you let me at least try?" Aileen asked.

"Okay," Hermione sighed before turning around so that Aileen could properly work on her hair.

From an inside pocket of her school robes (she had added some extras) Aileen pulled a small bag that consisted of a grooming kit. Aileen started off by brushing Hermione's hair, getting rid of the knots that had started to appear throughout the day. Then she swopped to a comb that she used to straighten a small strip of Hermione's hair at the front. With that bit held straight Aileen began plaiting it. Then she repeated the process on the other side. Once she was sure they would hold Aileen combed out the rest of Hermione's hair, straightening it only enough to make it look like she had purposefully curled it. Then she made a third plait using a piece of hair that ran down the middle of her head. Using the three plaits she made one large one that would hold Hermione's hair in a type of basket. To secure it all she grabbed a butterfly clip from her bag and pinned it in Hermione's hair.

During her last month at the Dursley's she had felt compelled to go out shopping for several for something to make up her grooming gear. Although she didn't really care for appearances, and she hadn't brought any make-up, Aileen knew others did care for appearance she figured if she had any friends who were girls a night spent doing each other's hair and nails was particularly guaranteed as they got to know eat other.

Most of the kit she had gotten was non-magical, but she had also stopped by the wizarding early and found these amazing combs and brushes that worked like non-magical straighteners and curlers would depending on what the intended result was. She had thought them to be very useful, especially since Aileen knew her hair could sometimes be difficult to control – especially if for some reason she was forced to cut it – and figured she might as well get some practise in with using them now before she actually needed to use them.

"There." Aileen said putting her bag away and stepping around Hermione. In total it had taken her five minutes to do Hermione's hair.

"Wow that looks really good." Neville muttered when he turned around to find where she had gone. Ron also turned around and blinked shocked. Hermione blushed scarlet.

"Thanks." Hermione said both to Neville for the comment and Aileen for fixing her hair.

"Anytime Hermione." Aileen said softly, hoping that maybe this small group would become her friends. She had never had a friend before, and although she knew this group had floors, she also knew that she could come to enjoy the company of all three of them – given time.

Then something happened that made her jump about a foot in the air — several people behind her screamed. For a split second she thought the monsters had caught up with her but when she turned around she saw a group of ghosts had come in behind the first years. Aileen had read that there were ghosts at Hogwarts, but seeing them for the first time was quite a shock to the system.

The ghosts were floated through the room – by the time the last one appeared there were around twenty in total – and they seemed to be having an engaging conversation that was turning into an argument. Not once did one of the ghosts glance at the first years, but Aileen got the feeling that they knew they were there.

"Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance —" one of the ghosts – dressed as a monk – was saying in a kind voice.

"My dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost -" another ghost was saying, trying to mediate the argument before it progressed any further.

"I say, what are you all doing here?" A ghost wearing a ruff and tights had suddenly noticed the first years.

"We are the first years to be sorted, Sir." Aileen said stepping forward slightly and curtseying slightly to the ghost who was obviously from around the 14 century (judging by his dress) and so she offered him the same respect he probably would have gotten from a lady back in his time. That, and when she was in an unknown, she always fell back on her manors.

"New students!" said the Friar, smiling around at them all happily. "That it fantastic I hope to see you in Hufflepuff!" said the Friar. "My old house, you know."

"Move along now," said a sharp voice. "The Sorting Ceremony's about to start." Professor McGonagall had returned.

One by one, the ghosts floated away through the opposite wall. "Now, form a line," Professor McGonagall told the first years, "and follow me."

Once more taking a deep breath to calm her nerves Aileen got in line behind a boy with sandy hair, with Ron behind her and Neville and Hermione behind him. They walked out of the chamber, back across the hall, and through a pair of double doors that Aileen had heard the student's voices coming from earlier and into the Great Hall.

Aileen had never even imagined such a strange and splendid place. It was lit by thousands and thousands of candles that were floating in mid-air over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting. These tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. At the top of the hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting.

Professor McGonagall led the first years up here, so that they came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them. The hundreds of faces staring at them looked like pale lanterns in the flickering candlelight. Dotted here and there among the students, the ghosts shone a misty silver.

Mainly to avoid all the staring eyes, Aileen looked upward and saw a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars. She heard Hermione whisper, "It's bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts, A History." It was hard to believe there was a ceiling there at all, and that the Great Hall didn't simply open on to the heavens. But she had also read Hogwarts A History, and it sparked a curiosity inside her to find out what sort of magic they had used in the castle.

Aileen brought her attention back to the front of the hall when McGonagall placed a stool at the front of the hall, in front of the professors. Why she hadn't gotten the stool out before leading the first into the hall, Aileen didn't know. On top of the stool she placed a wizard's hat, which was patched and friend. For some reason it was also filthy, like it hadn't been washed since it was first put together.

For a few seconds, there was complete silence. Then the hat twitched. A rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth — and the hat began to sing:

"Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,  
But don't judge on what you see,  
I'll eat myself if you can find  
A smarter hat than me.  
You can keep your bowlers black,  
Your top hats sleek and tall,  
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat  
And I can cap them all.  
There's nothing hidden in your head  
The Sorting Hat can't see,  
So try me on and I will tell you  
Where you ought to be.  
You might belong in Gryffindor,  
Where dwell the brave at heart,  
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry  
Set Gryffindors apart;  
You might belong in Hufflepuff,  
Where they are just and loyal,  
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true  
And unafraid of toil;  
Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,  
if you've a ready mind,  
Where those of wit and learning,  
Will always find their kind;  
Or perhaps in Slytherin  
You'll make your real friends,  
Those cunning folk use any means  
To achieve their ends.  
So put me on! Don't be afraid!  
And don't get in a flap!  
You're in safe hands (though I have none)  
For I'm a Thinking Cap!"

The whole hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It bowed to each of the four tables and then became quite still again.

"So we've just got to try on the hat!" Ron whispered to Aileen. "I'll kill Fred, he was going on about wrestling a troll."

Aileensmiled softly at that, Ron would see the humour in that one day. Although Aileen wished they could have tried the hat on without everyone watchingand then had the students introduced into their houses in a group as opposed to individually: they were eleven year's old and the school expected them to calmly walk in front of over four hundred elder students and teachers.

McGonagall brought the first year's attention to herself as she cleared her throat and unrolled a pieces of parchment. "When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said.

"Abbott, Hannah!" A pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails stumbled out of line, put on the hat, which fell right down over her eyes, and sat down. A moment's pause —

"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat.

The table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table. Aileen saw the ghost of the Fat Friar waving merrily at her.

And from there, they progressed slowly down the list. Each time a student's house was called, the house would cheer for them, although Aileen noticed that the Gryffindor table was the loudest and the Slytherin table the most controlled and polite. Aileen noticed that whenever a girl was placed into Gryffindor the twins would catcall, much to the girl's embarrassment – particularly Lavender Brown who was he first girl to be sorted into Gryffindor.

As well as having varying reactions from the tables, the hat took different amounts of time to sort the students. Some had barely had the hat on their head for a few seconds before having their house called, while others would take a couple of minutes.

Finally a name Aileen recognised was called up: "Granger, Hermione!"

Hermione almost ran to the stool and jammed the hat eagerly on her head. There was a pause as Hermione gripped the stool tightly for a moment and appeared to be arguing with the hat, before it called, "GRYFFINDOR!"

Ron groaned.

Aileen casually stood on Ron's foot. It was not right to do something like that to someone you don't know, or even someone know for that matter.

"Ow" Ron whispered glaring at Aileen, who sent back a look that clearly said 'you disserved it'.

When Neville Longbottom was called, he fell over on his way to the stool. The hat took a long time to decide with Neville.

When it finally shouted, "GRYFFINDOR," Neville ran off still wearing it, and had to jog back amid gales of laughter to give it to "MacDougal, Morag."

Malfoy swaggered forward when his name was called and got his wish at once: the hat had barely touched his head when it screamed, "SLYTHERIN!" Malfoy went to join his friends Crabbe and Goyle, looking pleased with himself.

Finally, it was Aileen's turn. When McGonagall called out her name the hall erupted into wild whispers that reminded Aileen of the sound of a hissing fire.

The last thing Aileen saw before the hat dropped over her eyes was the hall full of people craning to get a good look at her. Next second she was looking at the black inside of the hat. She waited.

"Hmm," said a small voice in her ear. "Difficult. Very difficult. Courage by the bucket full. Intelligent, hardworking, observant, not easily tricked. Loyal, kind, friendly. But you won't let anyone use you. And there's a ruthlessness buried on here. There's talent, my goodness, yes — and a nice thirst to prove yourself, now that's interesting… So where shall I put you?"

'Gryffindor' Aileen thought picturing Hermione's and Neville's faces. She wanted to be with her friends, or at the very least the people she thought she could one day call friend.

"Gryffindor, eh?" said the small voice. "Are you sure? You could be great in Slytherin, you know, it's all here in your head, and Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness, no doubt about that — no? Well, if you're sure — better be GRYFFINDOR!"

Aileen heard the hat shout the last word to the whole hall. She took off the hat and walked gracefully toward the Gryffindor table. She was so relieved to have been allowed into the same house as her friends; she hardly noticed that she was getting the loudest cheer yet, the twin's adding a little celebratory dance to their catcalling.

Aileen sat down opposite the ghost in the ruff she'd seen earlier. The ghost patted her arm, giving Aileen the sudden, horrible feeling she'd just plunged it into a bucket of ice-cold water without warning. It took her a few seconds to throw off the memories that were attempting to creep up on and overwhelm her.

She could see the High Table properly now. At the end nearest her sat Hagrid, who caught her eye and gave her the thumbs up. Aileen smiled back. And there, in the centre of the High Table, in a large gold chair, sat Albus Dumbledore. Aileen recognized him at once from the card she'd gotten out of the Chocolate Frog on the train. Dumbledore's silver hair was the only thing in the whole hall that shone as brightly as the ghosts. Aileen spotted Professor Quirrell, too, the nervous young man from the Leaky Cauldron. He was looking very peculiar in a large purple turban that he had not been wearing in the Leakey Cauldron. He also appeared to be twitchier then he was then, but Aileen just assumed this was because he was in a hall full of people.

There weren't very many people left to get sorted, since they were nearing the end of the alphabet. After Ronald joined her in Gryffindor, the last student – Blaise Zabini – was sorted into Slytherin. While McGonagall took the stall away, Dumbledore got to his feet and drew the student's attention.

He was being brightly around the silent room, his arms slightly opened wide at his side, as though nothing could have made him happier in that moment.

"Welcome," he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!"

He sat back down. Everybody clapped and cheered. Aileen didn't know whether to laugh or not. It seemed the saying was true, all great men are mad in their own way.

A moment later Aileen blinked in shock. The dishes in front of her were now piled with food. She had never seen so much food on one table: roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops and lamb chops, sausages, bacon and steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, fries, Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup, and, for some strange reason, peppermint humbugs. From the corner of her eye Aileen noticed the headmaster happily pilling peppermint humbugs on his plate, explaining why they were there but she still continued to look at all the food in shock.

The Dursleys had enjoying restricting what food Aileen could get and when and, in some cases, they did starve her but she still ate full meals when she was at Mrs Figgs and she would sometimes sneak some food when she was cooking so she wasn't completely ignorant of these foods and their tastes. Aileen placed a little bit of the vegetables and some chicken on her plate and began to eat. It was all delicious.

"That does look good," said the ghost in the ruff sadly, watching Aileen spear some asparagus.

"Can't you —?" Rom asked.

"I haven't eaten for nearly five hundred years," said the ghost. "I don't need to, of course, but one does miss it. I don't think I've introduced myself? Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington at your service. Resident ghost of Gryffindor Tower."

"I know who you are!" said Ron. "My brothers told me about you — you're Nearly Headless Nick!"

"I would prefer you to call me Sir Nicholas de Mimsy —" the ghost began stiffly, but sandy-haired Seamus Finnigan interrupted.

"Nearly Headless? How can you be nearly headless?"

Sir Nicholas looked extremely miffed, as if their little chat wasn't going at all the way he wanted.

"Like this," he said irritably. He seized his left ear and pulled. His whole head swung off his neck and fell onto his shoulder as if it was on a hinge. Someone had obviously tried to behead him, but not done it properly.

Looking pleased at the stunned looks on the majority of their faces, Nearly Headless Nick flipped his head back onto his neck, coughed, and said, "So — new Gryffindors! I hope you're going to help us win the house championship this year? Gryffindors have never gone so long without winning. Slytherins have got the cup six years in a row! The Bloody Baron's becoming almost unbearable — he's the Slytherin ghost."

Aileen looked over at the Slytherin table and saw a frighteningghost sitting there, with blank staring eyes, a gaunt face, and robes stained with silver blood. He was right next to Malfoy who didn't look too pleased with the seating arrangements.

"How did he get covered in blood?" asked Seamus with great interest.

"I've never asked," said Nearly Headless Nick delicately.

There was very little conversation as everyone at their fill of the food before them. However, once everyone had eaten as much as they wanted, the plates were replaced with dessert. Aileen hadn't ever seen so much sugar on one table before: blocks of ice cream in every flavour you could think of, apple pies, treacle tarts, chocolate éclairs and jam doughnuts, trifle, strawberries, Jelly, rice pudding…

AsAileen pored herself a drink of water (she had had more than enough sugar to last her awhile) the talk turned to their families.

"I'm half-and-half," said Seamus. "Me dad's a Muggle. Mom didn't tell him she was a witch 'til after they were married. Bit of a nasty shock for him."

The others laughed but Aileen winced slightly. If Seamus's dad had turned out like Aileen's relatives then that could have gotten messy. Especially if Mrs Finnian wasn't very got at defence.

"What about you, Neville?" Ron inquired curiously.

"Well, my Gran brought me up and she's a witch," said Neville, "but the family thought I was all-Muggle for ages. My Great Uncle Algie kept trying to catch me off my guard and force some magic out of me — he pushed me off the end of Blackpool pier once, I nearly drowned — but nothing happened until I was eight. Great Uncle Algie came round for dinner, and he was hanging me out of an upstairs window by the ankles when my Great Auntie Enid offered him a meringue and he accidentally let go. But I bounced — all the way down the garden and into the road. They were all really pleased, Gran was crying, she was so happy. And you should have seen their faces when I got in here — they thought I might not be magic enough to come, you see. Great Uncle Algie was so pleased he bought me my toad."

"It's not funny." Aileen snapped at the boys who had laughed at Neville's tale. "They could have killed him or done irreversible damaged to his magic by forcing him to show it." Aileen informed them. The boys fell silent, their eyes wide in shock having not considered the implications. Neville blushed and shot her a look that was between grateful and embarrassed.

On Aileen's other side, Percy Weasley and Hermione were talking about lessons and what Hermione hopped they would be learning in Transfiguration.

Aileen, who was starting to feel warm and sleepy, looked up at the High Table again. Hagrid was drinking deeply from his goblet. Professor McGonagall was talking to Professor Dumbledore. Professor Quirrell, in his absurd turban, was talking to a teacher with greasy black hair, a hooked nose, and sallow skin.

It happened very suddenly. The hook-nosed teacher looked past Quirrell's turban straight into Aileen's eyes — and a sharp, hot pain shot across the scar on Aileen's forehead. Her mind felt like it had when the hat was looking into her memories but so much more painful and focused on her scar.

Aileen turned away, placing a hand on her head attempting to ward of a headache, the pressure had gone but the pain linger.

"What is it?" asked Percy, noticing the way that Aileen was holding her head.

"Nothing. Just a headache" Aileen waved of his concern.

"Who's that teacher talking to Professor Quirrell?" she asked Percy after a moment to gather herself. That man's gaze held such pain and anger she didn't know what to think.

"Oh, you know Quirrell already, do you? No wonder he's looking so nervous, that's Professor Snape. He teaches Potions, but he doesn't want to — everyone knows he's after Quirrell's job. Knows an awful lot about the Dark Arts, Snape."

Aileen watched Professor Snape out of the corner of her eye for a while, but Professor Snape didn't look at her again. Aileen wondered if it was the same Snape – Severus - that her mother was friends with. If that was the case it would explain the pain when he looked at her, but why would he be angry? Unless he liked her mother as more than a friend and he was transferring that lose to anger and she was a reminder?Or maybe her father had done something – he was a prankster after all? She didn't know but she hoped she would be able to find out and speak with him.

At last, the desserts too disappeared, and Professor Dumbledore got to his feet again. The hall fell silent.

"Ahem — just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you. First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well." Dumbledore's twinkling eyes flashed in the direction of the Weasley twins who pretended to look completely innocent.

"I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors. Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch. And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."

Aileen got a horrible feeling of dread in her stomach at Dumbledore's words but she didn't know why. A few people laughed, not taking the warning seriously while Aileen was not really sure what to think: she always trusted her instincts (it was why she was still alive).

"He's not serious?" Hermionemuttered to Percywith a frown.

"Must be," said Percy, also looking at Dumbledore with a frown of his own. "It's odd, because he usually gives us a reason why we're not allowed to go somewhere — the forest's full of dangerous beasts, everyone knows that. I do think he might have told us prefects, at least."

After the school had sung the school song – much to the teacher's consternation, since their smiles had become rather fixed – and the Weasley twins had finished their funeral march, they were dismissed to their dorm rooms.

The Gryffindor first years followed Percy through the chattering crowds, out of the Great Hall, and up the marble staircase. Aileen's legs were like lead, but only because she was so tired and full of food – she had eaten more food in the last day than she normally would in an entire week. She knew it would come back to bit her in the ass but she had felt eyes on her during the entire feast and so she needed to appear to eat a normal amount. She would start eating smaller portions the next day _._

She was too sleepy even to be surprised that the people in the portraits along the corridors whispered and pointed as they passed, or that twice Percy led them through doorways hidden behind sliding panels and hanging tapestries. But she remained aware enough to track the passages they used so that she could get back to the Great Hall in the morning.

They climbed more staircases, yawning and dragging their feet, when they came to a sudden halt. A bundle of walking sticks was floating in mid-air ahead of them, and as Percy took a step toward them they started throwing themselves at him.

"Peeves," Percy whispered to the first years. "A poltergeist." He raised his voice, "Peeves — show yourself." A loud, rude sound, like the air being let out of a balloon, answered. "Do you want me to go to the Bloody Baron?"

There was a pop, and a little man with wicked, dark eyes and a wide mouth appeared, floating cross-legged in the air, clutching the walking sticks. "Oooooooh!" he said, with an evil cackle. "Ickle Firsties! What fun!"

He swooped suddenly at them. They all ducked.

"Go away, Peeves, or the Baron'll hear about this, I mean it!" barked Percy.

Peeves stuck out his tongue and vanished, dropping the walking sticks on what would have beenNeville's headhad Aileen not pulled him to the side (years of fighting having fine-tuned her instincts). They heard him zooming away, rattling coats of armour as he passed.

"You want to watch out for Peeves," said Percy, as they set off again. "The Bloody Baron's the only one who can control him, he won't even listen to us prefects. Here we are."

At the very end of the corridor hung a portrait of a fat woman in a pink silk dress.

"Password?" she said.

"Caput Draconis," said Percy, and the portrait swung forward to reveal a round hole in the wall. They all scrambled through it — Neville and Aileen needed a leg up because they were the shortest of all the first years — and found themselves in the Gryffindor common room, a cozy, round room full of squashy armchairs.

Percy directed the girls through one door to their dormitory and the boys through another. At the top of a spiral staircase — they were obviously in one of the towers — they found their beds at last: six four-posters hung with deep red, velvet curtains. Their trunks had already been brought up, Neville's toad was on top of Aileen's trunk and who ever brought the trunks up had been kind enough to give him some food and water.

Too tired to talk much, they pulled on their pyjamas (although Aileen went into the bathroom and washed quickly after helping Hermione let her hair down)and fell into bed.

For the first time in her life Aileen fell asleep the moment her head hit the pillow. Hypnos allowing her into his realm easily for the first time. Normally she lay awake for many hours before sleeping or was forced into unconscious because of Vernon. Aileen wasn't sure if Hypnos hated her or was testing her strength. She hoped it was the later because if the God of Sleep hated her she was doomed.

Perhaps Aileen had eaten a bit too much or a god was trying to send her a message, because she had a very strange dream. She was wearing Professor Quirrell's turban, which kept talking to her, telling her she must get something for it. Aileen told the turban she didn't want to steal anything; it got heavier and heavier; she tried to pull it off but it tightened painfully — and there was Malfoy, laughing at her as she struggled with it — then Malfoy turned into the face from her nightmares and then he laughed that high, cruel and cold laugh she had heard just after her mother died — there was a burst of green light and Aileen woke, sweating and shaking.

Shaking Aileen rushed to the bathroom and threw up everything she had eaten the day before. Once she had finished she got ready for the day before grabbing her transfiguration book, sitting on the windowsill and reading as the sun made its slow assent into the sky for she knew that she would not be able to sleep again that night.

Word Count: 15,958

Copied: 5,435

Edited: 24/06/2017


	6. Chapter 6: Hogwarts and Horrors Edited

Okay, lets start with: I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER. I'm just happily playing in JK's sand box. I DON'T OWN PERCY JACKSON either. I'm only allowed to play on the swing sets (pouts).

So, the next thing on my list of things to put on the top of this story: I've used a lot of the book structure of the first four years. By this I mean Aileen will be face a troll, save a dragon, go down the third floor, be blamed for opening the chamber, reveal her parseltongue abilities in the dueling club, save Ginny and kill the basilisk, and confront Sirius at the end of third year. Aileen will also be entered into the goblet, however she will be complete the tasks completely differently to Harry. If you don't like stories that do this then this isn't the story for you. Although I divert most majorly from the story line after book four, there are points through the first four years were Aileen dose something that Harry would never do because that is the way I've portrayed my character.

And finally, I have heavily edited the first twenty four chapters. You need to re-read the entire story to understand what happens after that point because it all ties together. By heavily edited, I mean nearly 40% of my story has completely been re-written. There is better characterization, more realistic sword skills and a little bit more on the emotional explanation of my character.

* * *

Chapter 6: Year one: Hogwarts, Halloween and Horrors

When Hermione woke the next morning Aileen offered her a slight smiled.

"Good morning," Hermione muttered. "How long you been up?"

"About twenty minutes. I'm an early riser. You might want to get a shower in now, it's six thirty so the others should be getting up soon." Aileen suggested.

Hermione blushed slightly and looked down at her feet. "Would it be possible… could you do my hair again… like you did last night. It's just I can never get it to lie flat and it annoys me so much." Hermione rushed out.

"Cause I can, but you'll have to be quick. We still need to find our way back to the great hall for breakfast." Aileen agreed after a moment. Perhaps this could be a bounding exercise?

Hermione had just come back from the bathroom, dressed in her school room, when Lavender's alarm went off telling the dorm room that it was seven o'clock.

"Blimy, what is that?" Fay snapped, sitting up sharply in her bed in shock while the other girls stirred and looked around in confusion at the rude awakening. Lavender grabbed her wand and it turned the alarm she had set off.

"Sorry," Lavender yawned. "I had my alarm set for seven."

"You girls should get ready," Aileen suggested, motioning Hermione to the vanity beside her bed and grabbing her grooming bag. "You can come to the great Hall for breakfast with us."

"There are three shower stalls," Hermione added.

The four girls eyed each other before launching themselves off their beds and grabbing what they needed before making a mad dash for the showers, not wanting to be the one waiting. Aileen giggled lightly in amusement before turning back to Hermione's hair.

"Do you have anything you want me to put in it like a clip or a ribbon?" Aileen asked curiously as she brushed the damp locks out so it would be easier to run the comb through.

"I've got a hair clip, my mum gave it to me yesterday morning." Hermione admitted, opening the draws in front of her and grabbing a rather beautiful hairclip that was blue with pearls. It had a slide clip.

Aileen hummed thoughtfully, deciding what design she could use that would allow the clip to fit. After a second, she started plating a top layer of Hermione's hair, tying off with a hair tie the same brown as Hermione's hair. Then she clipped the plate in place going down the centre at the back of Hermione's head. It was still very obvious that Hermione's hair was wild and bushy, but the plate kept her hair behind her and gave some order to the chaos.

"Thank you," Hermione said gratefully, looking into the mirror.

"Your welcome," Aileen offered a smile as the other girls came back and started doing their own hair. They were all a bit too young to be thinking of make-up yet so it took only another five minutes for everyone to leave for the great hall.

The moment Aileen stepped out of the girl's dormitory, the whispers started. At first it was just the older students from Gryffindor who had woken up early (mostly the prefects) who were curious about their new First Years. But then, as she left the common room with the girls, Ron and Neville (the latter two who had been hovering unsurely in the common room waiting for them) they got worse. When she was passing by people they would stand on their tip toes to see over other people's heads, they would line up so that they could see her one at a time and she even spotted a couple of people who had doubled back to see her again! It was completely ridiculous and highly confusing.

Aileen did her best to try and hide among the group of first years, but the girls (barring Hermione) didn't really understand why she was trying to hide and regularly moved so that the other students could see her despite Ron and Neville being stood on either side of her. Hermione did her best to help, by walking in front, Hermione was only half a head taller than Aileen, so as a shield she was most in effective.

It got worse when they left the great hall because Aileen only had Ron by her side (Hermione and Neville having not brought their books down to breakfast since they didn't know what they needed, and Ron deciding that he would just share with Aileen today and bring his stuff the following day). Like all the first years, Aileen had to start learning her way around the castle, and with staring students that task was made particularly difficult for her.

Aileen had gowned up in Privet Drive were everything was neat orderly, and spiralled around a central point. But Hogwarts was very different.

There were eight hundred and forty-two staircases at Hogwarts; something which she had taken great pride in finding out. In an attempt to learn the castle better, burn of excess energy and practise her stealth, she had taken to wondering the school at night and counting the secret passageways she found and the number of stairs. However, she was sure that there were still stairs she had yet to find hidden behind more secret passageways or in the dungeons (where she had to be particularly careful when wondering because Professor Snape was very aware of his surroundings).

Then there were doors that wouldn't open unless you asked politely (which Ron found out the hard way by belligerently demanding that the door opened when the handle refused to turn), or tickled them in exactly the right place, and doors that weren't really doors at all, but solid walls just pretending.

It was also very hard to remember where anything was, because it all seemed to move around a lot. The people in the portraits kept going to visit each other, and Aileenwas suremost, if not all _,_ the coats of armourcould walk around, so that you couldn't use them as a reliable reference either; not that they would have been much use anyway since most of them were identical to each other baring a couple of dents here and there or the age (shown by the design or shading of metal).

The ghosts didn't usually help. It was always a nasty shock when one of them glided suddenly through a door you were trying to open. Several times Aileen had to move quickly out of the way of a door because one of them had decided to glide through it; for some reason the hairs on the back of her neck would stand on end whenever one of the ghosts were near her, acting as an early warning system. It was almost like her instincts were telling her that there was something wrong with these ghosts – like they didn't belong in the castle. Which she supposed was both right and wrong since Hade's disagreed with ghosts on principle but his daughter ruled that area of the underworld and she could decide whether the ghosts remained among the living or not.

Off all the ghosts in the cast, Sir Nicolas was the most helpful towards the new Gryffindors (and Aileen was sure the other first years as well). If asked, he was more than willing to point them in the right direction, and if they were truly lost, lead them to where they needed to be. However, the worst ghost in the school was Peeves. He was a poltergeist and so capable of interacting with the mortal plane on a physical level and yet still allow him access to the second plane were the ghosts were. He used his presence to prank the students, and if a first year made the mistake of asking for direction they were likely to find themselves facing two locked doors and a trick staircase.

Then there was the caretaker, Argus Filch, who was reportedly worse than Peeves. The twins were always complaining about him for one reason or another. Aileen and Ron accidently managed to anger him within the first week of school. The old caretaker had found them at the entrance to the out-of-bounds corridor. They had gotten lost trying to find the Great Hall and hadn't a clue where they were, although he wouldn't believe them. He was sure that they were trying to break into the corridor, and they would have been placed in detention had Professor Quirrell not chosen to pass the corridor at that moment in time on the way to his lesson. When told, the twins found this hilarious and were proud of "their ickle brother" for following in their footsteps and becoming a trouble maker.

And then, once you had managed to find them, there were the classes themselves.

They had to study the night skies through their telescopes every Wednesday at midnight and learn the names of different stars and the movements of the planets. Aileen was very good at this class since she knew that almost all the stars names were routed in Greek/Roman Mythology. She had learnt quickly how to identify each star even before she had a telescope to look at them closely. The only part in this lesson she struggled with was reading the questions they were given. She found it easier to answer a verbal question presented by the teacher.

Three times a week they went out to the greenhouses behind the castle to study Herbology, with a dumpy little witch called Professor Sprout (who was – rather appropriately - the Head of House Hufflepuff), where they learned how to take care of all the strange plants and fungi, and found out what they were used for. This class also seemed to work hand in hand with potions despite the fact that the teachers don't seem to co-ordinate their lessons. Neville was unarguably the best in the subject followed swiftly by Aileen in the practical area and Hermione in the theoretical area.

Universally agreed across the whole school, History of Magic was the most boring class. Even those who were interested in the study of history found the class unbearable. It was taught by a ghost, which sounds brilliant in foresight, but not in reality. Professor Binns had been very old indeed when he had fallen asleep in front of the staff room fire and got up next morning to teach, leaving his body behind him. Binns droned on and on. By the end of the lesson most students were asleep. After his second lesson Aileen realised that Binns was quoting the history text so she just took notes from the book and found other relevant history books in the library when she had finished the class text book (she wanted to do well in her subjects to prove to herself that she was capable). Hermione disproved since Aileen didn't pay attention to the class and she was the only other person making an attempt to stay awake.

Charms was held three times a week and was taught by Professor Flitwick who was a tiny wizard due to his grandfather being a goblin. In lessons he had to stand on a pile of books to see over his desk (why he didn't shrink the desk or get steps Aileen didn't know). At the start of their first class he took the roll call, and when he reached Aileen's name he gave an excited squeak and toppled out of sightbut Aileen believe he did that so in an attempt to take attention away from her so she wasn't too annoyed by this.

Transfiguration was also held three times a week and was taught by the formidable Professor McGonagall. She was most definitely not a teacher you wanted to cross – from what Aileen was told she gave out the harshest punishments only behind Professor Snape. She was strict and cleaver, giving the class a talking-to the moment they sat down in her first lesson:

"Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts," she said. "Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned."

In order to impress the class – and hopefully show them what they would one day be capable off if they kept working hard – she turned her desk into a pig and back again. Then she spent the first half of the class going over very complicated theory behind how and why transfiguration works, applying visualisation and concentration to their first task of turning a matchstick into a needle. For the second half of the class they were actually asked to perform this transfiguration, although McGonagall said they would be spending half a class on theory, and half on practical, for the foreseeable future.

By the end of the lesson, Hermione had made her match silver and slightly pointed whichearned her a rare smile from McGonagall. Aileen had completely transformed her matchstick into a needle, and had practised it multiple times before she turned to her notes and book trying to understand _how_ she had done it since she had not followed the instructions McGonagall gave to complete the transformation (which was why she had hidden this fact from the rest of the class).

The class everyone had really been looking forward to was Defence Against the Dark Arts, which they only had twice a week. However, Quirrell's lessons turned out to be a bit of a joke. His classroom smelled strongly of garlic, which everyone said was to ward off a vampire he'd met in Romania and was afraid would be coming back to get him one of these days despite the fact that garlic had no effect on Vampires; it irritate them because they had an enhanced sense of smell, but it was the same as waving a dirty sock under their noses: annoying but not enough to stop them.

The twins, confirmed by Percy, informed her that they hadn't had the same DADA teach for more than a year. Although Percy was hopeful that maybe this one would make it through to the next year, the twins were already taking bets on how Quirrell would leave. Aileen put a Galleon on him betraying Dumbledore and paying the price with death, after one particularly annoying lesson that she left with a severe headache.

And then there was the start-of-term banquet, Aileen had gotten the impression that Professor Snape disliked her. By the end of the first Potions lesson (which they had once a week but in a double period, instead of twice or three times a week like the other core classes. According to the upper years, the number of potions lessons double in third year because it starts getting harder), she knew she'd been wrong. Snape didn't dislike Aileen — he hated her. Or rather, the person/memory Aileen reminded him of.

Potions lessons took place down in one of the dungeons (the side the Slytherin Common Room and Snape's Office was located on according to the twins who appeared to know everything about the lay out of the castle).As was to be expected, it was much colder down in the dungeons since the walls didn't hold heat as well. The classroom, was dark and creepy with pickled animal parts on display on shelves along one wall of the class. The desk were laid out in groups of two and seven rows, with four columns.

The smell of passed potions lingered in the classroom since no one had installed any form of ventilation, and Aileen was forced to wear a scarf over her hair to protect it from the lingering fumes; something that the other girls (both Slytherin and Gryffindor) also took up when they realised that she was doing to protect her hair as opposed to keeping it out of the potion – which was another benefit.

Aileen chose a table in the middle row with Ron, Neville took the table on their left with Seamus, Lavender and Parvati and then Fay and Hermione took the last of the tables on that row. The rest of the Gryffindors were on the row behind them, while the Slytherins took the two rows in front of them – obviously choosing to sit near the front because their head of house was in charge of the class and they were closer to the supply closet which meant they would get their ingredients first.

Snape, like Flitwick, started the class by taking the roll call, and like Flitwick, he paused at Aileen's name.

"Ah, Yes," he said softly, "Aileen Potter. Our new — celebrity."

Draco Malfoy and his friends Crabbe and Goyle sniggered behind their hands but Aileen just calmly looked forward at the professor, she would not rise to such petty baiting. She hadn't responded to the Dursley's in years, she wasn't about to break her mask for this man who knew nothing about her.

When Snape finished role call – determining that everyone was present – he looked up at the class severely, daring anyone to not be paying attention to him. His eyes were black, but they had none of the warmth that could be found in Hagrid's similarly coloured eyes, instead they were cold and hard. In a way they reminded Aileen of tunnels – endless and unfathomable.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making," he began. He spoke in barely more than a whisper, but they caught every word — like Professor McGonagall, Snape had the gift of keeping a class silent without effort. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses… I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even put a stopper to death — if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

The class had been silent from the moment Snape swept into the classroom with his robes billowing – everyone having heard some tale of how strict he was – but that silence seemed to have changed. Instead of being a silence out of fear and unease, it had changed to one of awe and anticipation. Even Ron, who had admitted he really wasn't looking forward to potions, had leaned forward slightly during the speech. However, several of the Gryffindor's faces had turned offended at the end of Snape's speech, which had been very passionate and enrapturing until he had insulted not only them but also every student he had ever taught.

"Potter!" Snape suddenly snapped, causing a good portion of the class to jump, and even Aileen had to supress her primal instinct of flinching. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

Hermione's hand had shot into the air. It was something Aileen had noticed Hermione did since she wanted to prove herself. Whether the teachers were calling on a specific students or the class in general, she would put her had up and demand the teacher's attention. It was discouraging for the rest of the class, and Aileen knew it was annoying quite a few of them (particularly the Ravenclaws) because it meant they didn't get a chance to show they knew the answer. Aileen made a mental note to talk with Hermione about it if she hadn't calmed down by the end of the second week, since she was still on relatively good terms with the girl from their morning interaction (even if the majority of their dorm had already shunned her for being a know-it-all).

"Powdered root of asphodel is used as the base in many sleeping agents and an infusion of wormwood, if combined with powdered valerian will increase the potency of the sleeping potion. So it must be a very strong sleeping potion such as…" Aileen frowned trying to remember the name of the powerful sleeping potion she had heard of, "ah, the Draught of Living Death."

Snape's lips curled into a sneer, but his eyes flashed with something other than hate for a very brief moment. "Very lucky guess. Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"

Hermione stretched her hand as high into the air as it would go without her leaving her seat.

Aileen forcefully bit back her original comeback to that question because she knew that all potion stores and stocks would have a Bezoar because it was commonly used as an antidote for poison, or in potions which would be used as a cure for a specific poison. "In the stomach of a goat, sir." Aileen responded with as much respect as she could, as she continued looking at her professor.

"What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?"

At this, Hermione stood up, her hand stretching toward the dungeon ceiling in her desperation to answer a question that she obviously knew the answer to.

"Wolfsbane?" Aileen frowned in thought her mind flashing through all the plants that she knew trying to identify that name. "They're the same plant, sir." She answered slowly. "Wolfsbane is the leaf of the aconite plant which are highly toxic and the monkshood is from the roots which can be used to awaken someone from a deep sleep or concussion induced unconsciousness. It is the main ingredient used in the counter to the Drought of Living Death." Aileen explained, her brow frowned in thought.

"Sit down," he snapped at Hermione. "Your guess was correct Potter, asphodel and wormwood do make a sleeping potion so powerful it is known as the Draught of Living Death. A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat and it will save you from most poisons. As for monkshood and wolfsbane, they are the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite but at this level you do not need to know the difference although it is useful information for third year. Well? Why aren't you all copying that down?" he snapped at the class who had been staring between the two.

There was a sudden rummaging for quills and parchment, although Aileen noticed that a couple of the Slytherin girl's had already written down the information.

Despite showing that she had clearly prepared for the class, it didn't much improve for Aileen as the lesson continued. Using the pairs they had been sat in, Snape ordered them all to prepare a simple potion to cure boils – the instructions of which were on the board. Because he had written it up, very few students also got out their potions book, but Aileen was too far away from the board and Snape's handwriting was too neat, that she couldn't read it. Instead, she had Ron reading from the board to confirm that the instructions where the same as what was in her book before starting the potion.

Snape swept between the desks – reminding Aileen of a panther hunting it's pray – watching with sharp eyes as the class weighed, crushed, chop and otherwise prepared ingredients while adding it to the rapidly forming potion. He's critics of the Gryffindor's was sharp and biting, but he generally avoided speaking to the Slytherins accept to offer a brief moment of praise.

Snape had caught Malfoy's hand before he could prematurely at his stewed horned slugs- probably leading to a disastrous reactions – and was praising him in order to buy time without showing up a student of his house when a loud hissing noise filled the dungeon had somehow managed to melt Seamus's cauldron into a twisted blob, and their potion was seeping across the stone floor, burning holes in people's shoes. Within seconds, the whole class was standing on their stools while Neville, who had been drenched in the potion when the cauldron collapsed, moaned in pain as angry red boils sprang up all over his arms and legs.

"Idiot boy!" snarled Snape, clearing the spilled potion away with one wave of his wand. "I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?" Neville whimpered as boils started to pop up all over his nose.

"Take him up to the hospital wing," Snape spat at Seamus, who had been fortunate enough to avoid being hit by the he turned on Aileen and Ron:their potion now ruined from the explosion much like Lavender and Parvati's potion was on Neville's other side.

"You — Potter — why didn't you tell him not to add the quills? Thought he'd make you look good if he got it wrong, did you? That's a point from Gryffindor."

The same day as that disastrous potion lesson Aileen had accepted an invitation down to Hagrid's. Straight after her potion lesson, she checked on Neville in the hospital wing to find he was fine but Madam Pomfrey wanted to keep him until dinner to make sure that there was no unforeseen side effects. Then at five, Aileen took Ron and headed down to Hagrid's small hut which was on the edge of the forbidden forest.

When Aileen knocked,there was the sound of frantic scrabbling and booming barks from some kind of dog on the other side. Although she was no expert on dogs, he sounded excited to have company as opposed to threatening that someone was trying to enter his territory. Over the sound of the dog barking, Aileen could just make out Hagrid trying to get 'Fang' (which she assumed was the name of the dog, to stand back.

After a moment of listening to this, Hagrid finally managed to open the door to reveal the inside of his hut. However, Aileen couldn't really get a good look around because she was focused on the large black boarhound that Hagrid was holding back by the collar. Since the dog didn't growl at them when they stepped inside the hut, but instead continued trying got get to them, Aileen assumed her first assessment was right and the dog was really a big softy as opposed to the ferocious beast that its name and sizes suggested.

Hagrid's hut was only the one room, with poultry hanging from the roof, a copper kettle merrily bubbling over an open fire and a massive bed in the corner with a patchwork quilt.

"Make yerselves at home," Hagrid invited as he released the dog which immediately ran over to great Ron with a big slippery like on his ears.

"Hagrid, I would like you to meet my friend – Ronal Weasley. Ron this is Hagrid he's the keeper of Keys and Grounds." Aileen introduced as Hagrid poured the boiling water into a teapot (which was appropriately giant sized) and putting cakes of some sort on a plate.

"Another Weasley, eh?" Hagrid repeated with a smile. "I spent half me life chasin yer twin brothers away from the forest."

The spent the rest of the afternoon talking with Hagrid about their first week at the school. Ron pretended to enjoy the cakes, which had huge lumps of rains and seemed to be rock hard, while Aileen felt quite pleased with herself that she turned down the offer siting that she was on a specialised diet to help her put on weight (which wasn't technically a lye). Aileen had saved Ron from Fang who was now resting his head on Aileen's knee and drooling all over her robes as he panted lightly from Aileen absently scratching him behind the ear.

Aileen and Ron were grateful to hear that Filch didn't just act grouchy towards the students. Apparently he always had Mrs Norris watching Hagrid whenever he came up to the castle despite the fact that Hagrid had been on staff longer then Filch.

Nearing the end of their visit, Aileen explained the way that Snape had acted towards her in class, hoping that maybe Hagrid would offer her some insight into why. Hagrid definitely did know why – or at least suspected why – Snape was acting that way because he grew awkward, denied knowing anything and then tried to change the subject. Having seen how uncomfortable he had gotten, Aileen, allowed him to do so but she mentally made a not to try and get someone to talk with her about it.

"How's yer brother Charlie?" Hagrid asked Ron. "I liked him a lot — great with animals."

While Ron was talking with Hagrid about Charlie and his work with dragons (which Hagrid found fascinating), Aileen looked around the hut, growing uncomfortable with how sociable she had been that week. She had yet to get any real time to herself, despite the late nights and early mornings she spent by herself in the dorm room reading. Her wondering eye was caught by a newspaper clipping that had been shoved under a tea cozy.

GRINGOTTS BREAK-IN LATEST  
Investigations continue into the break-in at Gringotts on 31 July, widely believed to be the work of Dark wizards or witches unknown. Gringotts goblins today insisted that nothing had been taken. The vault that was searched had in fact been emptied the same day.  
"But we're not telling you what was in there, so keep your noses out if you know what's good for you," said a Gringotts spokes goblin this afternoon.

When Ron had been telling her about the Gringotts break in on the train he hadn't mentioned the date. "Hagrid!" Aileen drew the man's attention when there was a lull in the conversation, "that Gringotts break-in happened on my birthday! And I doubt that vaults are emptied very often. Was the package you collected the thing the thief was after?"

Hagrid refused to meet Aileen's eyesas he grunted and offered her a rock the story mind whirling with possibilities.

What could have possibly been in that grubby package that someone would risk breaking into one of the securest buildings in Britain?

Who would be desperate enough to dare do such a thing?

How powerful where they to get out undetected?

Why did Hagrid get sent to pick up the package, when the owner obviously had foreknowledge that it was in danger?

Where was the package now?

After two weeks, a notice was placed in the Gryffindor common room announcing that the flying lessons would be taking place on Thursday afternoons starting the third week. It was the only hour in which both Slytherin and Gryffindor had free together. It was rare because Gryffindor shared most of their frees with Hufflepuff, and a couple with Ravenclaw. The teacher's must have intentionally planned it so the flying lesson fell on the only free they had with Slytherin.

"Why do they insist on putting the Slytherins and Gryffindors together in the most dangerous of classes? I mean people can die if they make a mistake in the brewing of potions and with flying the problem's obvious. But they still insist on putting us together. It's completely idiotic and illogical." Aileen said, frowning at the board causing the twins to snigger from where they stood next to her since they had come over to see what had caught the first year's attention in the hopes of causing mayhem and chaos but her words headed them off.

Malfoy, who had been trying to pick fights with a disinterested Aileen at every opportunity, took to boasting about his flying and how he had been flying practically since he could walk. He particularly liked complaining loudly about how the first years weren't allowed to bring their brooms or try out for their house teams when around Aileen and her friends. He seemed to think the more he did it, and embellished with storied of how he had evaded a helicopter, the more likely he was to get a rise out of Aileen.

However, he had stopped doing so when Aileen – shocked and impressed he knew the name of the fierce non-magical contraction – asked Malfoy to describe what a helicopter looked like. Since she had called him out on it when all the Slytherin and Gryffindor first years were present, Malfoy had no choice but to answer or looked bad in front of his own house. Unfortunately for him, he couldn't describe what a helicopter was. Aileen had preceded to explain what a helicopter was, and how if he had narrowly avoided one as many times as he said, then that means he was breaking the Statue of Secrecy. Since he was under the age of ten, then his parents would be the one's taking the fall for it. And how bad would that look, his Mr Malfoy fined for revealing the magical world, on the word of his son. And would you like to take that back?

Malfoy had blushed and stammered, unable to say anything in response. Aileen had laughed, advising he thought his words through more carefully and did some research before boasting, then then she walked away. Malfoy hadn't bothered her since.

Much to Aileen's annoyance, Malfoy hadn't been the only one who couldn't stop talking about flying. Seamus spent so much time talking about it, he made it sound like he had spent his childhood flying around the countryside. At least he didn't embellish as much as Malfoy had done, and some of the information was useful for his non-magical raised friend Dean. Even Ron joined in the youthful bosting when he would tell anyone who would listen about the time he'd almost hit a hang glider on Charlie's old broom.

But Aileen wasn't the only one who was fed up with all the talk of flying. Most of the girls in her dorm – despite being raised in the wizarding world – disliked flying but they could do it well enough. Parvati was particularly annoyed since she grew up in India where flying carpets were still legal and they were much easier to fly and gave more stability. Then there was Hermione, who was terrified of heights and flying wasn't something that you could really learn from a book – not that she didn't try. In fact, Hermione was so stressed about learning how to fly Aileen pushed back the talk she had been planning to have with the girl.

Finally, there was Neville. According to the shy boy, his grandmother had never allowed him near one for fear that he would do himself harm. His family had also thought he was a squib until he was eight, and so they didn't think he even had enough magic to fly a broom anyway. Although Neville was clumsy (and forgetful), Aileen attributed it to lack of confidence because he had been slowly improving the longer he spent at Hogwarts.

Finally the Thursday of the flying lesson rolled round. Hermione was lecturing anyone around her about what she had read, but no one was really paying attention. Ron and Seamus – the two most experienced flyers – were also starting to look really annoyed with her continues babbling while the others all looked annoyed. Aileen had simply decided to stay out of it since she didn't know how this flying lesson was going to go and she was trying to ignore a very fundamental part of her being that was telling her to keep both her feet firmly planted on the ground.

Her father was Poseidon, the God of the Sea, and she knew that Zeus, the God of the Sky, hated it when demi-gods went into his domain, never known when one of his brother's children did. For now she was out of sight of the God of the Sky but she feared that flying would bring his attention to her and she would be killed by her own uncle (although that was a fear she had faced many times of over the years, this was different since she had the option of not putting herself in harm's way).

Ron was about to snap – most likely to tell Hermione to shut up – and rather fortunately it was at that time that the mail arrived. Neville opened the packaged he received to reveal a remembrall which had been a gift from his Gran telling him how proud she was that he was passing all his subject (although he could do better than an A in potions, she was sure).

"What's it do?" Aileen ask curiously, jumping on the distraction of this new enchanted object instead of allowing herself to dwell on where her thoughts had been going.

"When the white cloud in the middle terns red, it means I've forgotten something important," Neville explained, holding it out properly so Aileen could see. He was speaking quietly so the other first year didn't hear what he was saying since Ron had taken Hermione's brief distraction and started a loud debate with Dean about what was better, Quidditch or Football.

"It's a really old model. I think it was made in the late 1700," Neville admitted sadly. "It was giving to my great-great-great-great-great-great granddad when he started Hogwarts and it has been given to every son of the main line since. There are better, newer models out, but this is the one that's been passed down in the family for generations."

"That's really sweet. I'm glade your family has something like that to link you together," Aileen offered Neville a smile, seeing that he was close to tears from the proof that his Gran did see him as part of the family – as someone she was proud off. Aileen didn't know what happened to Neville's parents, but she knew they were out of the picture. She figured he lost them during or just after the war.

They were interrupted by Malfoy, who had chosen that moment to cross the hall and snatch the heirloom from Neville's hands. "What's this, a Remembrall? What did you gran realise you were so worthless you needed help remembering your own name." he taunted.

"Give that back Malfoy!" Ron snapped, jumping to his feet. The first years had all noticed when Malfoy joined their table, and were angry that he had dared to still from one of their own.

"What is going on here?" McGonagall demanded, appearing behind Malfoy with a frown of anger. She had started moving the moment Malfoy stopped at their table, which was why Aileen hadn't made to confront Malfoy.

"Malfoy decided to take something that didn't belong to him, and then insult Neville," Aileen answered calmly, when Malfoy went to open his mouth to lye.

"Then give what you have taken back, Mr Malfoy. And that's five points from Slytherin." McGonagall snapped.

Malfoy glared and tossed the balls back to Neville, who fumbled to catch it. Not wanting to be any more trouble, Malfoy slinked away without another word and McGonagall watched him for a moment before returning to the head table after nodding to her lions.

"Thanks," Neville muttered weakly.

"Someone needs to stand up to Malfoy and show him the world doesn't shin out of his father's ass," Aileen answered, getting a surprised laugh from the group of boys and a sharp reprimand from Hermione.

Herbology and Transfiguration seemed to drag on during the morning, the Gryffindor side of the class only half paying attention since they were all worried about, or looking forward to, the flying lesson. Finally, three thirty came around and the Gryffindor first years headed out to the grounds as a group. It amused Aileen that the first time the entire year group was together and heading somewhere was for their flying lesson which was a prerequisite of Quidditch – a sport introduced to Hogwarts to encourage house unity.

The brooms were already out and waiting for them on the grass. There were two rows of brooms in varying conditions. Aileenhad talked with Fred and George, who both complain about the school brooms, saying that some of them started too vibrant if you flew too high, or always flew slightly to the left. Aileen didn't understand why the school did not just buy better brooms - asking for donations from the parents if the school fund was too small – it was the safety of their children that was being put at risk after all. However, because the Slytherins had gotten their first, the Gryffindor's were left with the most damaged of the brooms.

Their teacher, Madam Hooch, arrived shortly after the Gryffindors. She had short, gray hair, and yellow eyes like a hawk.

Aileen glanced down at her broom. It was old and some of the twigs stuck out at odd angles, a crack had also started to appear down the middle of it. From what she could tell it was the worst out of all of the school brooms and from Malfoy's sneer he obviously knew that to.

"Stick out your right hand over you broom," called Madam Hooch at the front, "and say 'Up!'"

"UP!" everyone shouted.

Aileen's broom jumped into her hand at once, but it was one of the few that did on her side. Even those who had boasted about flying before took a second call to get their broom into their hand. Those who hadn't flown before, or who didn't want to fly, took much longer to get the broom in their hand. Since their voice wobbled and clearly stated they didn't want to be on the broom, Aileen wondered if brooms could sense intent in a similar manor to a horse.

Once everyone had the broom in hand, Madam Hooch showed them how to mount their brooms without sliding off the end, and walked up and down the rows correcting their grips. Ron was delighted when she told Malfoy he'd been doing it wrong for years, despite his protests that he had never had a problem before with his grip.

"Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard," said Madam Hooch. "Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet, and then come straight back down by leaning forward slightly. On my whistle-three-two-"

But Neville, nervous, jumpy and frightened of being left on the ground, pushed off hard before the whistle had touched Madam Hooch's lips.

"Come back, boy!" she shouted, but Neville was rising straight up like a cork shot out of a bottle-twelve feet-twenty feet.

Aileen locked her eyes on Neville's stark white face then she acted on instincts honed from years of fighting for her life and a deep desire to protect those who she held dear. She may have only known Neville for three weeks, and she wasn't as close to him as she was Ron, but she felt a connection to him that she didn't have with Ron. Like they had meant to be siblings.

She pushed off from the ground and shot to Neville just as he slipped of the side of the broom. Releasing her own broom with one hand Aileen wrapped her arm around Neville's waist before he could plummet to the ground. Her broom dropped at the sudden increase in weight but Aileen was able to control it. And, still holding onto Neville, she slowly lowered herself to the ground.

The moment they had touched down Madam Hooch was at Neville's side checking to make sure he was okay. He was shaking and had no colour in his face. When Aileen called his name he didn't respond.

"Ma'am I think he's gone into shock." Aileen whispered, gentle holding Neville's hand in one of hers.

"Come on, boy-it's all right, up you get." Madam Hooch hulled Neville to his feet, supporting most of his weight. She turned to the rest of the class. "None of you is to move while I take this boy to the hospital wing! You leave those brooms where they are or you'll be out of Hogwarts before you can say 'Quidditch.' Come on, dear."

No sooner were they out of earshot than Malfoy burst into laughter. "Did you see his face, the great lump?"

Malfoy's cronies joined in, although there was a small group of Slytherns who stepped to the side and simple observed.

"Shut up, Malfoy," snapped Parvati as Aileen got to her feet, her grip on her broom turning her knuckles white as she stared at Malfoy with her emerald eyes flashing.

"Ooh, sticking up for Longbottom?" said Pansy Parkinson, a hard-faced Slytherin girl who was practically glued to Malfoy's side during class and meals although she didn't always wonder the corridors with him. "Never thought you'dlike fat little cry-babies, Parvati."

"Look!" said Malfoy, darting forward and snatching something out of the grass. "It's that stupid thing Longbottom's Gran sent him."

The Remembrall glittered in the sun as he held it up.

"Really Mr Malfoy, that's twice now you've tried to steal that Remembrall. Hand it over," Aileen ordered as she locked her eyes with his. Everyone stopped talking to watch.

Malfoy smiled nastily but she noticed that his eyes shifted slightly in uncertainty. He had yet to get the best of Aileen, and every time he had tried so far he had either gotten in trouble or been embarrassed in front of his peers. He was also recalling he words from the train that first day. "I think I'll leave it someone for Longbottom to find-how about-up a tree?"

"MrMalfoy," Aileen said sharply taking a step forward, but Malfoy had leapt onto his broomstick and taken off.

He hadn't been lying, he could fly well. Hovering level with the topmost branches of an oak he called, "Come and get it, Potter!"

"No!" shouted Hermione. "Madam Hooch told us not to move - you'll get us all into trouble."

"I'm not letting him break something that belongs to my friend." Aileen said curtly before swinging up and joining Malfoy in the air. That ball was probably one of the few things that Neville had connecting him to his father, and his father's fathers. It was also proof of his Gran's pride, which he had admitted to Aileen was something he didn't think he had or deserved.

Up, up she soared; air rushed through her hair, and her robes whipped out behind her - and in a rush of fierce joy she realized she'd found something she could do without being taught - this was easy, this was wonderful _,_ it was like she was finally free and nothing could harm her up here. When she had flown up to grab Neville she had not thought of anything but saving him but now she felt the fierce joy of freedom that she had only gotten when submerged in water.

She pulled her broomstick up a little to take it even higher, and heard screams and gasps of girls back on the ground and an admiring whoop from Ron. She turned her broomstick sharply to face Malfoy in mid-air. Malfoy looked stunned.

"Give it here," Aileencalled, "orI'll send you back to the ground."

"Oh, yeah?" said Malfoy, trying to sneer, but looking worried.

Aileen knew, somehow, what to do. She leaned forward and grasped the broom tightly in both hands, and it shot toward Malfoy like a javelin. Malfoy only just got out of the way in time; Aileen made a sharp about-face and held the broom steady. A few people below were clapping.

"Next time I won't miss, MrMalfoy," Aileen called.

"Catch it if you can, then!" he shouted, and he threw the glass ball high into the air and streaked back toward the ground. Aileen saw, as though in slow motion, the ball rise up in the air and then start to fall.

She leaned forward and pointed her broom handle down hopping to intercept the ball before it could hit the ground. She went darting forward in a deep dive, wind whistling in her ears, nearly drowning out the screams from the class below, as she focused on that little ball. A foot from the ground, Aileen stretched out her hand a caught the ball with just enough time to ball up and jump from her broom and to the solid ground with it clutched safely to her chest.

"AILEENPOTTER!"

At dinner time, Aileen told a disbelieving Ron that she had been put on the Quidditch team by McGonagall instead of being punished. She hadn't even had a chance to decline, she was just told that she was going to be seeker, and that was the end of the conversation.

"Seeker?" Ron repeated in disbelief, his forkful of pie forgotten halfway to his mouth. "But first years never - you must be the youngest House player in about-"

"-a century. I'm also the youngest female player, ever." Aileen informed him, having been told his information by Wood before he skipped back to lesson.

"I start training next week," said Aileen. "Only don't tell anyone, Wood wants to try and keep it a secret."

Fred and George came into the hall, spotted Aileen, and hurried over.

"Well done," said George in a low voice. "Wood told us. We're on the team too - Beaters."

"I tell you, we're going to win that Quidditch Cup for sure this year." said Fred. "We haven't won since Charlie left, but this year's going to be brilliant. You must be good, Aileen, Wood was almost skipping when he told us."

"He was skipping when he left me," Aileen admitted, much to the twin's amusement. "And didn't Charlie leave last year?"

"He stopped playing in his seventh year -"

"- wanted to focus on his NEWTs." George explained.

"Anyway, we've got to go, Lee Jordan reckons he's found a new secret passageway out of the school."

"Bet it's that one behind the statue of Gregory the Smarmy that we found in our first week. See you."

Fred and George had hardly disappeared when someone far less welcome turned up: Malfoy, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle.

"Having a last meal, Potter? When are you getting the train back to the Muggles?"

"Last meal? Why would I be having a last meal? I wasn't the only one breaking the rules remember?" Aileen commented as she took a bit out of her stew before continuing, not even bothering to turn around and face the boy, "You seem a lot braver now that you have your little friends by your side." Aileen knew that there was nothing little about Crabbe and Goyle but they could do nothing to her with the teachers overlooking the hall.

"I'd take you on anytime on my own," said Malfoy. "Tonight, if you want. Wizard's duel. Wands only — no contact. What's the matter? Never heard of a wizard's duel before, I suppose?"

"Of course she has," said Ron, wheeling around. "I'm her second, who's yours?"

Malfoy looked at Crabbe and Goyle, sizing them up. Aileen, who had finally decided to turn around, raised an amused eyebrow, what happened to no contact? She wasn't intimidated by either of the boys before her – she had faced (and killed) far more dangerous things in her time.

"Crabbe," he said. "Midnight all right? We'll meet you in the trophy room; that's always unlocked."

When Malfoy had gone, Aileen slapped Ron around the back of the head; a habit she had gotten into whenever Ron decided to do – or say – something that was rude, inappropriate or stupid. It wasn't painful – nor did it cause any damage – but it got her point across more sharply than words and normally prevented Ron from continuing to spew whatever idiotic thing had annoyed her.

"You're my second?" shedemanded sharply. "Ron, you can't go around accepting other people's challenges."

"Excuse me."They both looked up. It was Hermione.

"Can't a person eat in peace in this place?" said Ron.

Hermione ignored him but Aileen once again hit him upside the head for being rude. Aileen wasn't as close to Hermione as she was Ron – or even Neville – but Aileen still considered her as aquasi-friend. "I couldn't help overhearing what you and Malfoy were saying —" Hermione began, not even looking in Ron's direction when he once again earned himself a slap from Aileen.

"Bet you could," Ron muttered.

"— and you mustn'tgo wandering around the school at night, think of the points you'll lose Gryffindor if you're caught, and you're bound to be. It's really very selfish of you."

"I wasn't the one to accept the duel Hermione." Aileen sighed. "There's a book in the library called: _the Rules and Regulations for first time Duellers._ Go check it out and then come talk to me."

"And it's really none of your business," said Ronrudely, inciting a glare from Aileen since Ron had turned away so she couldn't slap him upside the head. "Good-bye."

Later that night Aileen sat on the common room windowsill, staring out at the grounds deep in thought. The other students had gotten so used to her sitting at the highest point in the common room, that they didn't even blink when they spotted her form perched at a potentially dangerous height.

There was a very good chance they were going to get caught by Filch or Mrs Norris. Aileen was used to moving the castle late at night by herself, not with another person with her and she doubted that Ron was very good at stealth. That and Aileen felt like she was already pushing her luck, since this would be the second rule she was breaking in the same day. On the other hand,she couldn't just not turn up. In the book she had read (when looking up different laws and traditions) she had discovered that if you accept a wizarding duel you are honour bond to go through with it.

"Half-past eleven," Ron muttered, coming down into the common room since he had gone to bed 'in an attempt at tricking everyone that he wasn't up to anything', "we'd better go."

Aileen sighed, jumping down from the sill and scanning the common room. A few embers were still glowing in the fireplace, turning all the armchairs into hunched black shadows. They had almost reached the portrait hole when a voice spoke from the chair nearest them:

"I can't believe you're going to do this, Aileen."

A lamp flickered on. It was Hermione, wearing a pink bathrobe and a frown. Clutched in one of her hands was the book Aileen had recommended although she could tell Hermione hadn't finished it yet – most probably because she had been hiding in the corner of the room and so didn't want to risk putting a light on encase Aileen spotted her.

"You!" said Ron furiously. "Go back to bed!"

"Come on," Aileen said to Ronnot wanting the two to get in another argument. Hoping to distract them, she stepped out into the corridor but Hermione decided she wasn't going to let them get away that easily and followed after them while hissing at them in anger.

"Don't you care about Gryffindor, you only care about yourselves. I don't want Slytherin to win the house cup, and you'll lose all the points I got from Professor McGonagall for knowing about Switching Spells."

"Go away." Ron glared at the girl.

"All right, but I warned you, you just remember what I said when you're on the train home tomorrow, you're so-"

But what they were, they didn't find out. Hermione had turned to the portrait of the Fat Lady to get back inside and found herself facing an empty painting. The Fat Lady had gone on a night time visit and Hermione was locked out of Gryffindor tower.

"Now what am I going to do?" she asked shrilly.

"That's your problem," said Ron. "We've got to go, we're going to be late."

"She's gone to visit Violet. She'll probably be gone for thirty minutes to an hour depending on how much gossip Violet has collected throughout the day." Aileen informed Hermione softly before she turned and continued down the corridor, Ron at her side. She didn't have time to deal with Hermione, it was her own fault for following them out of the common room.

They hadn't even reached the end of the corridor when Hermione caught up with them. "I'm coming with you," she said.

"You are not."Ron said angrily _._

"D'you think I'm going to stand out here and wait for Filch to catch me? If he finds all three of us I'll tell him the truth, that I was trying to stop you, and you can back me up."

"You've got some nerve —" said Ron loudly.

"Shut up, both of you!" said Aileensharply;she was fed up with them arguing especially if it could get them caught; didn't either of them realise that shouting at each other was more likely to draw a teachers attention? "I heard something."

It was a sort of snuffling.

"Mrs Norris?" breathed Ron, squinting through the dark.

"To big," Aileen answered her hand resting on her wand as she moved forward silently.

She relaxed when she realised it was Neville. He was curled up on the floor, fast asleep, but jerked suddenly awake as they crept nearer.

"Thank goodness you found me! I've been out here for hours; I couldn't remember the new password to get in to bed."

"Keep your voice down, Neville. The passwords 'Pig snout' but it won't help you now, the Fat Lady's gone off to visit a are you feeling?" Aileen asked, crouching down to be at the same level as the boy.

"Fine," said Neville. "Madam Pomfrey gave me some kind of potion that helped me calm down."

"It was probably a calming draught." Aileen got to her feet and offered Neville a hand

"Look, Neville, we've got to be somewhere, we'll see you later —" Ron began after looking at his watch.

"Don't leave me!" said Neville panicky as he cut of the end of Ron's sentence. "I don't want to stay here alone, the Bloody Baron's been past twice already."

Ron glared furiously at Hermione and Neville. "If either of you get us caught, I'll never rest until I've learned that Curse of the Bogies Quirrell told us about, and used it on you."

Hermione opened her mouth, perhaps to tell Ron exactly how to use the Curse of the Bogies, but Aileenhissed atthem all to be quiet and beckoned them all forward. Arguing about whether they were going to come with them or not was just as likely to get the lot of them caught as wondering the corridors at night together would.

They flitted along corridors striped with bars of moonlight from the high windows. Aileen kept her ears pealed for any sign of Flitch or Mrs Norris as they walked, but they were lucky. They sped up a staircase to the third floor and tiptoed toward the trophy room.

Malfoy and Crabbe weren't there yet although Aileen doubted he would actually turn up. Malfoy held no honour and despite being raised in the wizarding world, she didn't know if he would have been taught the protocols for an official dual.

The crystal trophy cases glimmered where the moonlight caught them. Cups, shields, plates, and statues winked silver and gold in the darkness. They edged along the walls, keeping their eyes on the doors at either end of the room. Aileen kept her hand on her wand just in case Malfoy leapt in and started at once.

The minutes crept by.

"He's late, maybe he's chickened out," Ron whispered.

Then a noise in the next room made them jump. Aileen drew her wand and was about to cast a light spell to see who was there when they heard someone speak — and it wasn't Malfoy.

"Sniff around, my sweet, they might be lurking in a corner."

It was Filch speaking to Mrs Norris. Horror-struck, Aileen waved at the other three to follow her as quickly as possible; they scurried silently toward the door, away from Filch's voice. Neville's robes had barely whipped round the corner when they heard Filch enter the trophy room.

"They're in here somewhere," they heard him mutter, "probably hiding."

"This way!" Aileen mouthed to the others _,_ motioning for them to be silent; terrifiedthat they might be caught they began to creep down a long gallery full of suits of armour.

They could hear Filch getting nearer. Neville suddenly let out a frightened squeak and broke into a run - he tripped, grabbed Ron around the waist, and the pair of them toppled right into a suit of armour. The clanging and crashing were enough to wake the whole castle.

"Silence," Aileen hissed at them before Ron could shout anything. She helped the boys up and, in the hopes that the teachers thought it was Peeves, she began running again - dragging the boys with her. The four of them sprinted down the gallery, not looking back to see whether Filch was following—they swung around the doorpost and galloped down one corridor then another, Aileen in the lead as she was the only one who knew the way and was used to travelling the corridors at night. Pulling aside one final tapestry, Aileen slowed to a stop on the third floor charms corridor which she knew was nowhere near the trophy room.

"I think we've lost him," Aileen said taking a deep breath and as she looked over her friends. Neville was bent double, wheezing and spluttering and Ron and Hermione weren't much better.

"I —told— you," Hermione gasped, clutching at the stitch in her chest, "I — told — you."

"We've got to get back to Gryffindor tower," said Ron, "quickly as possible."

"Malfoy tricked you," Hermione said to Aileen. "You realize that, don't you? He was never going to meet you — Filch knew someone was going to be in the trophy room, Malfoy must have tipped him off."

"We need to be quite, now let's go."Aileen said her eyes scanning the corridor as they set of wasn't the time for I-told-you-so's, especially when Aileen had never disagreed. Unfortunately, they had barely set of again, when Peeves came flying out of one of the classrooms in front of them.

He laughed in delight and paused in mid-air when he spotted the group of first years who had stopped at the sight of the poltergeist.

"Shut up, Peeves — please — you'll get us thrown out." Hermione whispered desperately.

Peeves cackled. "Wandering around at midnight, Ickle Firsties? Tut, tut, tut. Naughty, naughty, you'll get caughty."

"What's life without a little bit of mischief?" Aileen countered, elbowing Ron slightly to get him to shut up. She had met Peeves a couple of times during her late night wondering, and he hadn't turned her in yet. However, she knew that if they said or did the wrong thing, Peeves would call Filch's attention to them no matter how much he hated the man.

"Should tell Filch, I should," said Peeves in a saintly voice, but his eyes glittered wickedly. "It's for your own good, you know."

"Now why would you want to do that?" Aileen said once again silencing Ron with an elbow to the stomach (you would think he would have learnt by now?). "We've caused quite a bit of mess down by the trophy room and I'm sure all the teachers will believe it was you. Filch is in a right fit. Let's play a prank, yeah?"

"I'm listening." Peeves floated down, his eyes sparking in devilish amusement.

"We need to get back to our common room, create an alibi, it will mess with Malfoy's head because he knows we left the common room this night. But we need someone to distract Filch, he's just behind us." Aileen said calmly.

"Well then little firsties – go hide, I'll keep the nasty caretaker from finding you." He cackled gleefully because he had taken a disliking to Malfoy and he disliked Filch on principle. Then he started singing loudly at the top of his voice about Trophies and loud crashes.

The group of four first years ran to the end of the corridor where they slammed into a door — and it was locked.

"This is it!" Ron moaned, pushing helplessly at the door, "We're done for! This is the end!"

They could hear footsteps, Filch running as fast as he could toward Peeves's shouts.

"Oh, move over," Hermione snarled.

She grabbed Aileen's wandwhich she still held in her hand, tapped the lock, and whispered, "Alohomora!"

The lock clicked and the door swung open — they piled through it, shut it quickly, and pressed their ears against it, listening. Aileen took her wand back from Hermione and held it tight.

"Peeves, have you seen any students out of bed?" Filch was saying. "Quick, tell me."

"Say 'please.'"

"Don't mess with me, Peeves, now where did they go?"

"Shan't say nothing if you don't say please," said Peeves in his annoying singsong voice.

"All right —please."

"NOTHING! Ha haaa! Told you I wouldn't say nothing if you didn't say please! Ha ha! Haaaaaa!"

And they heard the sound of Peeves whooshing away and Filch cursing in rage followed swiftly by his clumsy footsteps.

"He thinks this door is locked," Aileen whispered. "I think we'll be okay — Neville, what's wrong?"for Neville had been tugging on the sleeve of Aileen's robe for the last minute.

Aileen turned round, and had no trouble seeing why Neville had been pulling on her sleeve. Of all the things – this was too much. She had never faced something this deadly before, and she especially hadn't done so in such a confined space with friends to protect.

Stood before them was something that she had only heard about in tails of the underworld. Hade's guard dog was a Cerberus – a three headed monstrosity. Since Aileen doubted it had escaped from hell and made its way to Britain – of all places – she figured this was probably one of its descendants.

It had gotten to its feet – it's large bulk making the room seem awfully small. Aileen knew that the only reason they weren't currently dog chow was because their sudden appearance had startled it. But it was swiftly getting over it, as three thunderous growls started filling the room.

Aileen grabbed the doorknob — between detention and death, she'd takedetention.

They fell backward — Aileen slammed the door shut, and they ran, they almost flew, back down the corridor. Filch must have hurried off to look for them somewhere else, because they didn't see him anywhere, but they hardly cared — all they wanted to do was put as much space as possible between them and that monster. They didn't stop running until they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady on the seventh floor.

"Where on earth have you all been?" she asked, looking at their bathrobes hanging off their shoulders and their flushed, sweaty faces. Aileen was in the best state since she was still wearing her school uniform and was used to running. However she had no colour in her cheeks and her eyes were wide in fear and shock.

"Never mind that pig snout," Aileen snap – the only one still capable of speech.

They scrambled into the common room and collapsed into armchairs. It was a while before any of them said anything. Neville, indeed, looked as if he'd never speak again – the calming drought from early obviously having warn off.

"What do they think they're doing, keeping a thing like that locked up in a school?" said Ron finally. "If any dog needs exercise, that one does."

"It was a Cerberus Ron, a three headed dog used in ancient times to guard treasure. In Greek Mythology _The_ Cerberus guards the gates to Lord Hades' realm." Aileen muttered, her eyes drawn to the fire as she spoke about the god of the underworld and her uncle.

Hermione had got both her breath and her bad temper back again. "You don't use your eyes, any of you, do you?" she snapped. "Didn't you see what it was standing on?"

"The floor?" Ron suggested. "I wasn't looking at its feet, I was too busy with its heads."

"No, notthe floor. It was standing on a trapdoor. It's obviously guarding something." She stood up, glaring at them. "I hope you're pleased with yourselves. We could all have been killed — or worse, expelled. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to bed."

Ron stared after her, his mouth open. "No, we don't mind," he said. "You'd think we dragged her along, wouldn't you." And with that comment Ron retreated to his bed leaving Aileen down in the common room to comfort Neville and bring him back to reality.

Hermione had given Aileen something else to think about as she spoke soothing words to Neville. The dog was guarding something… What had Hagrid said? Gringotts was the safest place in the world for something you wanted to hide — except perhaps Hogwarts.

It looked as though Aileen had found out where the grubby little package from vault seven hundred and thirteen was.

But why was it at Hogwarts?

Who was after it?

And would it not have been safer in the headmaster's office where no one could just stumble upon it?

And why was such a simple locking charm on the door?

A week after the three head dog incident the owls flooded into the Great Hall as usual, but everyone's attention was caught at once by a long, thin package carried by six large screech owls. Aileen looked up from her breakfast when she caught the sound of excited chatter. She was rarely in the Great Hall when the owl's arrived since she didn't like being surrounded by so many people, but she was slowly starting to adjust. She didn't pay attention to the owls when they arrived because she hadn't received a single letter since Hagrid's first invite (they had a standing invitation to see him for a couple of tea on Friday evenings which Aileen was determined to take him up on). She was therefore surprised when the owl's dropped the large parcel that had caught everyone's attention in front of her.

A seventh owl fluttered down behind the others and dropped a letter on top of the parcel. Curious to see who would send her a parcel, Aileen decided to open the letter first.

DO NOT OPEN THE PARCEL AT THE TABLE.  
It contains your new Nimbus Two Thousand, but I don't want everybody knowing you've got a broomstick or they'll all want one. Oliver Wood will meet you tonight on the Quidditch field at seven o'clock for your first training session.  
Professor McGonagall

Aileen handed the note to Ron to read while she calmly grabbed the broom and got up, ignoring the stares of everyone else in the room.

"A Nimbus Two Thousand!" Ron moaned enviously. "I've never even touched one."

They left the hall quickly, Aileen wanted to put the broom in her room before first lesson, but halfway across the entrance hall they found the way upstairs barred by Crabbe and Goyle. Malfoy seized the package from Aileen and felt it.

"That's a broomstick," he said, throwing it back to Aileen with a mixture of jealousy and spite on his face. "You'll be in for it this time, Potter, first years aren't allowed them."

Ron couldn't resist it. He had been wanting to get back at Malfoy for all the wise cracks he made about his family, since he had decided Aileen was too smart of a target. "It's not any old broomstick," he said, "it's a Nimbus Two Thousand. What did you say you've got at home, Malfoy, a Comet Two Sixty?" Ron grinned at Aileen, knowing she didn't know too much about broom models. "Comets look flashy, but they're not in the same league as the Nimbus."

"What would you know about it, Weasley, you couldn't afford half the handle," Malfoy snapped back. "I suppose you and your brothers have to save up twig by twig."

Before Ron could answer, Professor Flitwick appeared at Malfoy's elbow. "Not arguing, I hope, Children?" he squeaked.

"Potter's been sent a broomstick, Professor," said Malfoy quickly, determined to get Aileen in trouble at least ones.

"Yes, yes, that's right," said Professor Flitwick, beaming at Aileen. "Professor McGonagall told me all about the special circumstances, Potter. And what model is it?"

"A Nimbus Two Thousand," said Aileen calmly, ignoring the look of horror on Malfoy's face. "And it's really thanks to Malfoy here that I've got it," she added.

Aileen and Ron headed upstairs, Ron smothering his laughter at Malfoy's obvious rage and confusion.

"Well, it's true," Aileen said honestly as they reached the top of the marble staircase, "If he hadn't stolen Neville's Remembrall I wouldn't be on the team…"

"So I suppose you think that's a reward for breaking rules?" came an angry voice from just behind them. Hermione was stomping up the stairs, looking disapprovingly at the package in Aileen's hand.

"I thought you weren't speaking to us?" said Aileen shocked. Ever since the three headed dog incident Hermione had been avoiding her as best she could considering the fact that they had the same time table and slept in the same room. Aileen had taken the hit, and was waiting for Hermione to cool of before trying again.

"Yes, don't stop now," said Ron, "it's doing us so much good."

Hermione marched away with her nose in the air as Aileen slap Ron around the head for hurting her feelings (she was starting to feel like that man – Gibbs – from NCSI for the number of times she had reprimanded him in his manner).

While she was at Hogwarts's time flew by very quickly. Wood, the Quidditch team captain, had them out training three nights a week for two hours. The teachers piled homework on them at the end of every lesson; Aileen was still doing her own independent study on the wizarding world and anything else that caught her interest, when the number of people surrounding her at all times became too much she would retreat to an empty classroom and practise her fighting skills and then there was the time she felt obliged to spend with her friends. She wasn't used to having friend's so she was trying to follow their lead on how to act (but without as much psychical contact and closeness that she saw most people outside of Slytherin displaying) while also maintain as much 'her time' as she could.

Overall, the castle felt more like home than Privet Drive ever had done. Privet Drive was a place she hated and would gladly turn her back on in a heartbeat had she been capable of walking out of their door with the intention of never returning. Hogwarts was a place where she felt more relaxed, were people didn't hate her and were there was a safe area she could retreat to when forced. If she could just get used to the people and being touched, Aileen would have no reservations about the castle.

So it was, Aileen was caught by surprise when Halloween morning arrived – announced by the mouth-watering smell of baking pumpkin wafting through the corridors. Adding to the happiness of the class, Flitwick announced in Charms that he thought they were ready to start making objects fly, something they had all been dying to try since they'd seen him make Neville's toad zoom around the classroom.

Flitwick put the class into pairs to practice. Unlike with potions, Flitwick was the one to pair the class, and so Aileen ended up with Seamus and Ron ended up with Hermione. Aileen wasn't sure who looked more displeased about this – Ron or Hermione. Hermione hadn't spoken a word to either of them since the broom arrived despite Aileen's tendency to share Hermione's table in the library when she was studying without Ron (she was slowly warming Hermione to the idea of Aileen's presence before she tried talking to her again).

"Now, don't forget that nice wrist movement we've been practicing!" squeaked Flitwick, perched on top of his pile of books as usual. "Swish and flick, remember, swish and flick. And saying the magic words properly is very important, too — never forget Wizard Baruffio, who said 's' instead of 'f' and found himself on the floor with a buffalo on his chest."

Seamus swished and flicked, but the feather he was supposed to be sending skyward just lay on the desktop. Seamus got so impatient that he prodded it with his wand and set fire to it — Aileen had to put it out with her hat(which she had never warn). Once they had gotten a new feather Aileen gave it a go and was able to get the feather to float a few inches before losing concentration and dropping it.

Concentration was always the hardest part of spell casting for her – with ADHD and no outlet, like cleaning, Aileen found it very difficult to concentrate on the spell unless she had attempted it multiple times and committed it to memory and could she cast a charm or transfiguration with little effort. Which was probably why she found it easier to cast hexs, jinks and curses since they didn't need as much concentration and she could rally of a large number of them in quick succession. Charms and transfiguration of objects she wasn't intimately familiar with were the hardest things for her to do because of the require concentration. Normally she would practise the spells late at night when she was on her own, again and again, until she could do them with barely a thought.

Ron, at the next table, wasn't having much luck. "Wingardium Leviosa!" he shouted, waving his long arms like a windmill.

"You're saying it wrong," Aileen heard Hermione snap. "It's Wing-gar-dium Levi-o-sa, make the 'gar' nice and long."Aileen thought it might have more to do with the windmill impression but she kept quiet, for now _._

"You do it, then, if you're so clever," Ron snarled, which he probably shouldn't have done. They were both aware that Hermione was nearly always the first person to cast the spells (although only Aileen knew that this was because Hermione would practise them in her room when she thought the others were asleep).

Hermione rolled up the sleeves of her gown, flicked her wand, and said, "Wingardium Leviosa!" Their feather rose off the desk and hovered about four feet above their heads.

"Oh, well done!" cried Flitwick, clapping. "Everyone see here, Miss Granger's done it!"

Ron was in a very bad mood by the end of the class.

"It's no wonder no one can stand her," he said to Aileen as they pushed their way into the crowded corridor, "she's a nightmare, honestly."

Someone knocked into Aileen as they hurried past her. It was Hermione. Aileen caught a glimpse of her face — and was startled to see that she was in tears.

"I think she heard you." Aileen spoke softly as her eyes tracked Hermione down the corridor.

"So?" said Ron, but he looked a bit uncomfortable. "She must've noticed she's got no friends."

Aileen roughly pulled Ron into one of the many alcoves that are spread throughout the school.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU? WHY ARE YOU ACTING THIS WAY?" Aileen hissed angrily, her breaking point having been reached.

"You know what she is like!" Ron said right back. "She's overbearing, a know-it-all!"

"JUST BECAUSE SHE IS SMART AND ACTUALLY WANTS TO ACHIEVE IN HER SCHOOL WORK AND HELP OTHERS ACHIEVE DOESN'T MEAN YOU GET TO SAY THINGS LIKE THAT." Aileen hissed again, the only thing stopping her from yelling outright was the wish to remain outside of everyone's attention. "Ron, she's new here, she doesn't know anybody. It's hard to make friends in a whole new world." Aileen's tone softened at the end.

"You managed." Ron pointed out although he lowered his head slightly in guilt.

"You wanted to sit in the same compartment as the 'famous Aileen Potter', Ron – and don't try deigning it, you saw my scar when I asked how to get on the platform." Aileen glared when Ron opened his mouth to refute the accusation. "I know, I sound like a hypocrite talking to you like this when I didn't do anything to stop the bullying to begin with. But I saw her crying as she banged into me. You went too far; we went too far. We need to apologize to her in the next class. Alright?" Aileen's voice broke. "I know what bullying can do; I know what it feels to be on the wrong side of the punch, be it physical or verbal. I don't...I will not...allow the Dursleys to affect me."

"What do you mean?" asked Ron nervously.

"It's nothing, just Dudley. Listen, we'll both apologize, alright?"said Aileen shaking her head to clear it and pulling herself back together before she had a full emotional break .

Ron nodded.

HoweverHermione didn't turn up for the next class and wasn't seen all afternoon. On their way down to the Great Hall for the Halloween feast, Aileen and Ron overheard Parvati telling Lavender that Hermione was crying in the girls' bathroom and wanted to be left alone. Ron looked still more awkward at this, Aileen's annoyed glared probably not helping matters. She was about to turn around and go find the missing girl when they stepped into the Great Hall, but before she could do so Ron grabbed her arm and excitedly drag her in. Not wishing to harm her friend she allowed this, deciding that if Hermione didn't turn up within the first ten minutes she was going to go and hunt her down.

The hall had been transformed in the short time it took for lunch to end and dinner to begin. A thousand live bats fluttered from the walls and ceiling while a thousand more swooped over the tables in low black clouds, making the candles in the pumpkins stutter. The feast appeared suddenly on the golden plates, as it had at the start-of-term banquet. Hagrid's pumpkins lined the outside of the hall, thirteen on each side, with skill-fully carved faces looking rather scary in the flickering fire light.

Aileenwas just putting some food on two plates for her and Hermione (determined to find the girl if she didn't soon make an appearance) when Professor Quirrell came sprinting into the hall: his turban askew and terror on his face. Everyone stared as he reached Professor Dumbledore's chair, slumped against the table, and gasped, "Troll — in the dungeons — thought you ought to know." He then sank to the floor in a dead faint: so much for being the defence against the dark arts professor.

There was uproar; it took several purple firecrackers exploding from the end of Professor Dumbledore's wand to bring silence to the panicking students.

"Prefects," he rumbled, "lead your Houses back to the dormitories immediately!"

Percy was in his element. "Follow me! Stick together, first years! No need to fear the troll if you follow my orders! Stay close behind me, now. Make way, first years coming through! Excuse me, I'm a prefect!"

"How could a troll get in?" Aileen askedfrowning in worry as they climbed the stairs,choosing to ignore Percy who continued to walk pompously up front even though there was probably very little he would be able to do against a troll.

"Don't ask me, they're supposed to be really stupid," said Ron. "Maybe Peeves let it in for a Halloween joke."

"He wouldn't do anything that would endanger the students." Aileen disagreed, she had become rather found of the poltergeist after meeting with him in the corridors a couple of times.

They passed different groups of people hurrying in different directions. As they jostled their way through a crowd of confused Hufflepuffs (they appeared to making their way to the library since their dormitories are in the dungeons) Aileen suddenly grabbed Ron's arm and said one word.

"Hermione."

"What about her?"

"She doesn't know about the troll." Aileen pointed out, scanning the ground for the best opportunity to escape the group of Gryffindor's unnoticed.

Ron bit his lip, looking hesitantly to his brother before he let out a gusty breath. "Oh, all right. But Percy'd better not see us."

Leading the way, Aileen ducked down a side corridor that she knew led to their third floor. From what Lavender and Parvati said, Hermione was most likely in the toilets closest to the charms corridor. They were a corridor away from where they needed to be when Aileen heard the sound of quick footsteps behind.

"Someone's coming," Aileen informed Ron.

"Percy," Ron hissed, pulling Aileen behind a collecting of knights. It wasn't the best hiding spot, but with very few of the candles being lit in the corridor, the shadows would offer them more cover then the knight.

Peering around their selected hiding places, however, they saw not Percy but Snape. He crossed the corridor and disappeared from view, his walk quick and purposeful. His cloak was billowing behind him, and his face was set in a determined scrawl.

"What's he doing?" Aileenwhispered as she continued moving towards the girl's bathroom after making sure Snape was out of sight. "Why isn't he down in the dungeons with the rest of the teachers?"

"Search me." Ron shrugged, not really caring about the actions and motives of his least favourite professor.

"He's heading for the third floor," Aileensaid, looking in the direction Snape had gone for a moment before continuing on her way to the girls bathroom.

They were nearly at the girl's bathroom when Ron held up his hand.

"Can you smell something?"

Aileensniffed, breathing deeply to catch whatever it was Ron had done. Her sense of smell wasn't as strong as Ron's but after a moment she was able to pick up the foul stench that he must had been talking about. It reminded Aileen of the time when Vernon and Dudley had caught diarrhoea at the same time, blocking up the toilets. She had escaped to the park for the day while Petunia called the plumber and aired out the house. Following close behind that smell was a sound. The noise of something large shuffling along the corridors and a low grunting.

Pulling Ron into the shadows, they watched as a twelve feet tall troll with dull, granite skin, lumbered into sight. It was dragging a large club behind it, which was just as intimidating as the beast. The closer it got, the more incredible the foul smell became. The troll stopped next to a doorway and peered inside. It waggled its long ears, making up its tiny mind, then slouched slowly into the room.

"The keys in the lock," Ron muttered. "We could lock it in."

"We can't" Aileen answered, remembering that when a monster's ears moved it was generally in response to sound.

"Why not?" Ron demanded frowning.

"That's the girl's bathroom." A high, petrified scream immediately followed this statement.

"Oh, no," said Ron, pale as the Bloody Baron.

It was the last thing they wanted to do, but what choice did they have? Aileen wrenched open the door that had closed behind the troll and ran inside. Hermione was shrinking against the wall opposite looking as if she was about to faint. The troll was advancing on her, knocking the sinks off the walls as it went.

"Confuse it!" Aileenordered Ron, her mind settling into a sort of calm that normally overcame her when facing monsters. She seized a tap and threw it as hard as she could against the wall.

The troll stopped a few feet from Hermione. It lumbered around, blinking stupidly, to see what had made the noise. Its mean little eyes saw Aileen. It hesitated which confused Aileen: this was a monster, normally they wouldn't hesitate to ignore mortals and go after her. After that moment's hesitation the troll decided to head for her instead, lifting its club as it went.

"Oy, pea-brain!" yelled Ron from the other side of the chamber, and he threw a metal pipe at it.

The troll didn't even seem to notice the pipe hitting its shoulder, but it heard the yell and paused again, turning its ugly snout toward Ron instead, giving Aileen time to run around it. Although this wasn't home territory, and this was the first time she had faced a troll, Aileen was used to beating monsters with less then what she was currently working with. The only probably she could see with this was her friend's being in trouble – which was way she decided to remove that distraction first.

"Come on, run, run!" Aileen urgedHermione, grabbing her arm and trying to lead her towards the door before their escape route was cut off. But Hermione wasn't used to being in life threatening danger, her brain had shut down and she was frozen in shock. With Hermione leaning flat against the wall, her mouth dropped in terror, Aileen didn't have much hope of moving her since Hermione weighed more than Aileen.

The shouting and the echoes seemed to be driving the troll berserk. It roared again and started toward Ron, who was nearest and had no way to escape. Aileen then did something that was both very brave and very stupid:

She took a great running jump and managed to fasten her arms around the troll's neck from behind. The troll couldn't feel Aileen hanging there, but even a troll will notice if you stick a long bit of metal up its nose, and Aileen had still been holding some of the drain pip when she'd jumped – it had gone straight up one of the troll's nostrils.

Howling with pain, the troll twisted and flailed its club. Aileen braced her feet against the trolls back and tightened her hold around its neck causing the troll to struggle even more. Its club caught her shoulder but Aileen's grip was too tight.

Hermione had sunk to the floor in fright; Ron pulled out his own wand —

"Swish and flick." Aileen called to Ron hoping that he would get the hint and remove the troll's only weapon before it took a killing blow.

"Wingardium Leviosa!"

The club flew suddenly out of the troll's hand, rose high, high up into the air, turned slowly over — and dropped, with a sickening crack, onto its owner's head. The troll swayed on the spot and then fell flat on its face, with a thud that made the whole room tremble.

Aileen got to her feet and climbed of the trolls back. Ron was standing there with his wand still raised, staring at what he had done. Aileen chuckled and clamped Ron on the shoulder before moving to check on Hermione.

The night following the troll incident Aileen was sat leaning against the bed post of Hermione's bed, while the girl was leaning against her head board. The curtains where drawn closed offering privacy, and the other girls were down in the common room. Although Ron had apologised to Hermione, and they agreed to be friends, Aileen wanted to clear the air with Hermione herself.

"You know, I never thought you were a know-it-all." Aileen started the conversation.

"I know." Hermione blushed slight. "I'm sorry I acted so rude towards you, when you tried defending me. But, you kept hanging out with Ron and breaking the rules."

"What rules did a break?" Aileen decided to address this point first.

"You flew on the broom when Madam Hooch told you not to. You own a broom when that's against the rules for first years. And you left the common to dual a stent after curfew." Hermione listed, her chest puffing out as though she was about to begin a rant.

Aileen help up her hand to stall her. "Let's start with the flying. Do you know what that remembrall meant to Neville?"

"Well it was a gift from his Gran, so I suppose it was important. But not very useful and easily replaced." Hermione answered, frowning and not understanding.

"That's where you're wrong," Aileen said gentle. "That remembrall was the same one given to Neville's father, his father's father and so on for nearly three hundred years. A ball with that much history, that much sentimentality is irreplaceable." Aileen said strongly. "The fact that Malfoy stole that ball, and then threatened to break it is unforgivable."

Hermione's eyes widened in understanding as her hand went to the hair clip her mother had given her. Aileen had put it in her hair that morning, just as she had for the first three weeks of school before the broom incident. It had been passed down from mother to daughter (or daughter-in-law as the case had been once) for the past nine generations of her family. It was given to the daughters to mark maturity and Hermione had been given it at elven instead of fifteen or sixteen like most of the daughters before her. She supposed to her, the clip was he same as what the remembrall was to Neville.

Aileen offered a smile, realising that Hermione had gotten her point. "I would have gladly accepted a detention for five for my actions, but McGonagall decided that because I was acting in defence of another student, and Malfoy wasn't punished she wasn't going to punish me. Instead, without my input, she placed me on the Quidditch team. Which, in a way is just as much as punishment as it is a reward."

"How?" Hermione asked, confused. She could understand Aileen's reasoning for her actions, but she couldn't understand why Professor McGonagall had rewarded her.

"McGonagall expect me to attend the Quidditch practiced and stay on top of my school work. If I missed a three homework in a row, or one of my subjects drops below an Acceptable she would pull me from the house team. The rule about first years on the team was introduced three hundred years ago because first years couldn't cope with the combined pressure of the work load and the practised. McGonagall expect me to show that I'm mature enough to manage that." Aileen explained.

The day after she had been put on the time, McGonagall had called Aileen to her office and explained what was expected of her. Aileen thought she could manage it, as long as she put extra work in astronomy, potions and history. Then she had realised how fanatic Oliver was, and how many practises he expected the team to do. If she wasn't an insomniac, Aileen would really be feeling the pressure. She already had to cut back a little on her own projects.

"Oh, I hadn't realised." Hermione's eyes widened. Because she knew that Oliver expected a minimum of three practises a week, and she had overhead Angelina complaining that the closer to the matches they got, the more practises Oliver would schedule.

"You're the first person I told," Aileen offered Hermione a smile, before she moved onto the next thing that Hermione had mentioned. "Now the broom. The note at the bottom of the letter was written to stop students from bringing a broom and being injured because they were flying unsupervised. There is an exemption to the rule about brooms for any student on the Quidditch team. I'm the first student in their first year to be allowed on the team, and when the house teams regularly employed reserves it occurred more often. Therefore, there was nothing against the rules for me to have a broom. McGonagall took the money from my accounts – with my permission – to buy the room since I didn't know what model would be best. Apparently my father – had he been alive – would have brought me the best broom on the market which is exactly what she did."

"I didn't read anything about that rule." Hermione frowned.

"It's in the Hogwarts charter. Madame Price as a complete copy of it in the library but you aren't allowed to take it out. There is also the redacted version, which you can take it." Aileen explained. She had found it on the third day at the school and would spend some time reading it each day (even at night).

"I add it to my reading list." Hermione promised, realising she had been shunning Aileen for breaking a rule when she hadn't actually broken a rule.

"Did you finish that book on dualling that I recommended?" Aileen asked, moving onto the next point Hermione had brought up.

"Yes," Hermione flushed again. "When the challenged was accepted by Ronald you were honour bound to attend. The fact that Malfoy didn't attend could be used as a point of public shaming." Hermione recited.

"So, do you still have a problem with me breaking that rule?"

"No," Hermione sighed, realising she couldn't really hold a grudge against Aileen for this – especially when Aileen had tried to explain it to her in a way she would understand (a book) before hand and she had been to pig headed and stubborn to pay attention.

"Another other grudges you holding against me?" Aileen queried with a smile.

"No, we've covered everything." Hermione admitted.

"Then, would you mind if I brought something up with you?" Aileen asked.

Hermione hesitated before her shoulders deflated. Aileen had let her question her actions it was only fair that she allowed Aileen to do the same thing. Hermione nodded.

"Why do you put up your hand to answer every question in class?" Aileen asked bluntly. She didn't see the point of being subtle.

"Because I know the answer." Hermione answered with a frown, not understanding what Aileen was upset about.

"Hermione, you put your hand up when the teachers as other people the question. You have even been known to put her hand up before the teacher has finished their question. And you almost always do it in a way that is attention grabbing and the teacher feels compelled to ask you." Hermione opened her move to protest but Aileen talked over her. "And I know you want to prove to the teachers you know the answer, that you're smart and just as good as the wizard raised. But it's been two month, the teachers know you know the answer. Maybe, you should start letting others answer the questions."

"Are you asking to not say anything?" Hermione demanded angrily.

"No," Aileen corrected. "I'm asking you to not put your hand up when the professor asks someone else. And if they ask the class in general, and no one can answer the teacher, then put your hand up."

Hermione frowned. Disliking the idea of saying nothing during lessons but understanding Aileen point. Every time she put her hand up – baring Snape who enjoy picking on the other Gryffindors – they always asked her and she had noticed the glares she was getting from the other students. Perhaps, that was one of the reason the students were so annoyed at her. Because she wouldn't give them a chance in lessons. She had been so focused on proving herself, Hermione didn't realise she wasn't allowing anyone else that same opportunity.

"I'll try," Hermione promised.

As they moved into the winter, the weather rather predictable turned cold. Aileen was used to normal British winters, but up in Scotland with was very different. The mountains that surrounded the one side of the school became an icy grey which reflected the sunlight in a blinding displace if it caught the light just right. The student's woke every morning with the ground covered in frost, and Aileen doubted it would be very long before that frost turned to snow.

For some odd reason, the approach of winter also indicated the beginning of the Quidditch season. On Saturday, Aileen would be playing in her first match after weeks of training: Gryffindor versus Slytherin. If Gryffindor won, they would move up into second place in the House Championship (she had made the twins explain this to her twice, including what was so important about winning the house championship since she didn't completely understand the concept).

Hardly anyone had seen Aileen play because Wood had decided that, as their secret weapon, Aileen should be kept, well, secret. But the news that she was playing Seeker had leaked out because Ron had bragged to his dorm mates who then spread the didn't know which was worse, people telling her she'd be brilliant or people telling her they'd be running around underneath her holding a mattress. She was scared enough of being caught flying by Zeus without the image of people trying to catch her falling form.

Aileen was grateful she had cemented Hermione's friendship. She didn't know how she'd have gotten through all her homework without her. What with all the last-minute Quidditch practice Wood was making them do; every time Wood would drag her away from her homework Aileen would give him hell on the field since they had her swopping roles so that she could understand the team dynamic better.

Since the troll incident, and their conversation, Hermione had become a bit easier to be around. She wasn't as fanatical about following the rules, and was more likely to listening to over people's opinions – particularly Aileen's since she had already proven herself capable of displaying real life logic.

The day before Aileen's first Quidditch match the three of them were out in the freezing courtyard during break, and she had conjured them up a bright blue fire that could be carried around in a jam-jar. They weren't sure if it was against the rules or not since they weren't in the corridors and Aileen hadn't memories that part of the rule book yet (although it was on her list following the Quidditch match).

They were standing with their backs to it, getting warm, when Snape crossed the yard.

Aileen noticed at once that Snape was limping. She had found it odd how he had been sat in the potion lesson they had with him between the troll incident and then, but because he was marking papers Aileen hadn't put much thought into it. Aileen, Ron, and Hermione moved closer together to block the fire from view. Unfortunately, something about their guilty faces caught Snape's eye; or he was simple looking to get her in trouble (she couldn't tell).

He limped over, rather skilfully making it look like he was stalking as opposed to trying to keep most of his weight of his left leg. He hadn't seen the fire, but he seemed to be looking for a reason to tell them off anyway.

"What's that you've got there, Potter?"

It was'Transfiguration: the basics' one of the books that Aileen had brought from Flourish and showed him.

"Library books are not to be taken outside the school," said Snape. "Give it to me. Five points from Gryffindor." And with that he walked away before she could say anything.

"Wonder what's wrong with his leg?" Aileen said after taking a deep breath to calm herself, now was not a good time to blow up since she was completely surrounded by water and her friends didn't know her secret.

"Dunno, but I hope it's really hurting him," said Ron bitterly.

"Ron, I may not like Snape but don't wish harm on anyone." Aileen scolded. Ron bowed his head while Hermione looked shocked that she would defend the man since it was well known that neither of them got on.

The Gryffindor common room was very noisy that evening. Aileen, Ron, and Hermione sat together next to a window. Hermione was checking Aileen and Ron's Charms homework for them. She would never let them copy ("How will you learn?"), but by asking her to read it through, they got the right answers anyway (Aileen made sure that she reworded any correction she made so that she could actually learn what it was she had got wrong or not written, but Hermione rarely corrected her work outside of potions and Astronomy). Aileen felt restless. She wanted her book back, to take her mind off her nerves about tomorrow since she already finished her school work.

Getting up, she told Ron and Hermione she was going to ask Snape if she could have it.

"Better you than me," they said together, but Aileen had an idea that Snape wouldn't refuse if there were other teachers listening (that and it was obvious that the book was brought as opposed to borrowed from the library and so it is against the rules for Snape to keep the book). She made her way down to the staffroom and knocked.

There was no answer.

She knocked again. Nothing.

Perhaps Snape had left the book in there? It was worth a try. She pushed the door ajar and peered inside – and a horrible scene met her eyes. Snape and Filch were inside, alone. Snape was holding his robes above his knees. One of his legs was bloody and mangled. Filch was handing Snape bandages.

"Blasted thing," Snape was saying. "How are you supposed to keep your eyes on all three heads at once?"

Aileen pushed open the door and entered the room.

"POTTER!"Snape's face was twisted with fury as he dropped his robes quickly to hide his leg. "GET OUT! OUT! "

Aileen ignored him and moved swiftly into the room. "Professor, your legs going to get infected if you don't clean it out." She said ignoring the furious glare being sent her way. Then, before the men could stop her, she knelt and lifted up the professor's trouser leg and drew her wand.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" she said, her wand pointed at a bowl and jug of water that was to the side. Then she pulled a bag from inside her robs and grabbed some of the herbs that she always carried with her. Placing some water into the bowl she mixed in her herbs then grabbed a sponge from her bag and placed it in the water. She had taught herself how to heal most wounds when she was younger and now that she was in the wizarding world she had a greater access to healing herbs. Once she improved in potions she was going to make as many healing potions as she could and carry them around with her.

"Potter, what do you think you are doing?" Snape demanded again.

He made as though to move but Aileen reached out and grabbed the professor leg to stop him. Then before he could stop her she started to gently clean the bite wound.

"You're lucky the thing didn't bite too deep." Aileen muttered pleased to see that the wound did not go down to the bone and that it missed all the major arteries and vessels.

While she was making sure the wound was completely clean, the professor sitting stiffly in his seat, unable to move while she was working, and Flitch left the room because even he feared the professor's anger. Once she was satisfied with her work Aileen grabbed a sealing paste from her bag and gently applied it to the professor's leg before bandaging it up.

Finished she collected her things and stood. "You need to keep that clean professor, wash it at least once a day and change the bandages at least twice. The sealing paste should help the healing process and limit the scaring." And with that Aileen grabbed her book that resided on the table, turned and walked swiftly from the room before she could be told off or given detention.

Before going to the common room Aileen washed the blood from her hands and made sure she looked the same as she did before leaving the common room. She didn't really understand why she had done that. Yes, she had a probably with trying to help others, but healing Snape – it felt like she had been working on auto-pilot. Like she didn't really are have control over what she was doing, and yet she did. It was confusing, and she couldn't really explain it.

Once she was calm and in control of herself, Aileen headed to the common room.

"Did you get it?" Ron asked as Aileen joined them. "What's the matter?"

"Professor Snape has a bite mark on his leg, which is why he's been limping." Aileen told them bluntly but she kept her voice low so that no one else could hear. She explained what she had seen but did not mention she had decided to help him (they didn't know that she knew a lot about healing and she wasn't sure how to explain her decision to them when she couldn't explain it to herself).

"You know what this means?" Ronsaid when Aileen wasfinished. "He tried to get past that three-headed dog at Halloween! That's where he was going when we saw him — he's after whatever it's guarding! And I'd bet my chocolate frog card collection he let the trollin, to make a diversion!"

Hermione's eyes were wide. "No — he wouldn't," she said. "I know he's not very nice, but he wouldn't try and steal something Dumbledore was keeping safe."

"Honestly, Hermione, you think all teachers are saints or something," snapped Ron.

"But what's that dog guarding?" Aileen asked trying to push the image of Professor Snape's mutilated leg out of her mind. If he didn't take proper care of it he could risk losing the leg to infection _–_ and she still didn't know why she cared so much.

The next morning dawned very bright and cold. The Great Hall was full of the delicious smell of fried sausages and the cheerful chatter of everyone looking forward to a good Quidditch match.

"You've got to eat some breakfast."

"I don't want anything."

"Just a bit of toast," wheedled Hermione.

"I'm not hungry."

Aileen felt terrible. In an hour's time she'd be walking onto the field where she would be wide open; her fear of Zeus still not having lessoned despite the number of times she had flown. She knew that if she tried eating anything now it would not remain in her stomach long enough to last the game. She's better off not eat anything until she'd landed at the end of the game.

"Aileen, you need your strength," said Seamus Finnigan. "Seekers are always the ones who get clobbered by the other team."

"Thanks, Seamus," said Aileen a hint of sarcasm entering her voice as shewatched Seamus pile ketchup on his sausages.

By eleven o'clock the whole school seemed to be out in the stands around the Quidditch pitch. Many students had binoculars. The seats might be raised high in the air, but it was still difficult to see what was going on sometimes.

Aileen had briefly glimpsed the rapidly filling stands before joining the rest of her team in hiding the locker rooms. They had gotten changed into their robes – Gryffindor in scarlet and Slytherin in green – and they were now stood loitering around and waiting for Wood to gather his whit's.

"Okay, men," he said.

"And women," said Chaser Angelina Johnson cut in since the girls outnumbered the boys four to three (something that had never happened in the Gryffindor team before).

"And women," Wood agreed, wincing as he took in the look on his chaser's faces and the amused glint in Aileen's eye. "This is it."

"The big one," Fred cut in this time.

"The one we've all been waiting for," George continued with a smile.

"We know Oliver's speech by heart," Fred leaned down so Aileen could hear him, "we were on the team last year."

"Shut up, you two," Wood snapped annoyed. "This is the best team Gryfffindor's had in years. We're going to win. I know it." He glared at them all as if to say, 'Or else.'

"Right. It's time. Good luck, all of you."

Aileen followed Fred and George out of the locker room and, walked onto the field to loud cheers. Madam Hooch was refereeing. She stood in the middle of the field waiting for the two teams, her broom in her hand.

"Now, I want a nice fair game, all of you," she said, once they were all gathered around her. Aileen noticed that she seemed to be speaking particularly to the Slytherin Captain, Marcus Flint, a sixth year.

Aileen thought Flint looked as if he had some troll blood in him. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the fluttering banner that her friends had made, flying high above, flashing Potter for President over the crowd. Her heart skipped a beat at their show of support.

"Mount your brooms, please."

Aileen jumped onto her Nimbus Two Thousand.

Madam Hooch gave a loud blast on her silver whistle.

Fifteen brooms rose up, high, high into the air. They were off.

"And the Quaffle is taken immediately by Angelina Johnson of Gryffindor—what an excellent Chaser that girl is, and rather attractive, too—"

"JORDAN!"

"Sorry, Professor." The Weasley twins' friend, Lee Jordan, was doing the commentary for the match, closely watched by Professor McGonagall since he was known to be rude. The commentary of the game continued but Aileen was only listening with half an ear as she glided high above the game, trying to find the snitch. She wasn't entirely certain how (maybe her trips to the lake and regular showers?) but her eyesight had slowly started to improve but she was still mostly depending on her other senses to spot the snitch when it appeared.

Lee was just describing how the Slytherin Chaser was progressing up the field when Aileen suddenly shot by him, chasing the snitch. The chaser – Pucey – dropped the quaffle in shock when the snitch and then Aileen flew by his head. The Slytherin seeker – Terence Higgs – had also seen the snitch and soon drew alongside her since he had been closer when the snitch appeared. Neck and neck they hurtled toward the Snitch—all the Chasers seemed to have forgotten what they were supposed to be doing as they hung in mid-air to watch.

Aileen was faster than Higgs — she could hear the slight flutter of fast beating wings darting up ahead — she put on an extra spurt of speed…. WHAM! A roar of rage echoed from the Gryffindors below — Marcus Flint had blocked Aileen on purpose, and Aileen's broom spun off course - Aileen holding on for dear life as she tried to get it back under control.

Foul!" screamed the Gryffindors.

Madam Hooch spoke angrily to Flint and then ordered a free shot at the goal posts for Gryffindor. But in all the confusion, of course, the Golden Snitch had disappeared from sight again.

Lee Jordan was finding it difficult not to take sides. "So — after that obvious and disgusting bit of cheating —"

"Jordan!" growled Professor McGonagall.

"I mean, after that open and revolting foul…"

"Jordan, I'm warning you—"

"All right, all right. Flint nearly kills the Gryffindor Seeker, which could happen to anyone, I'm sure, so a penalty to Gryffindor, taken by Spinnet, who puts it away, no trouble, and we continue play, Gryffindor still in possession."

It was as Aileen finished doing a barrel roll tododge another Bludger, which went spinning dangerously at her head that it happened.

Her broom gave a sudden, frightening lurch. For a split second, she thought she was going to fall. She gripped the broom tightly with both her hands and knees. She'd never felt anything like that. The broom had always responded to her lightest touch as though it was an extension of herself.

It happened again. It was as though the broom was trying to buck her off. But Nimbus Two Thousands did not suddenly decide to buck their riders off. Aileen tried to turn back toward the Gryffindor goal-posts — she was going to ask Wood to call time-out—and then she realized that her broom was completely out of her control. She couldn't turn it. She couldn't direct it at all. It was zigzagging through the air, and every now and then making violent swishing movements that almost unseated her. If it wasn't for the fact that the sky was completely clear and she had yet to be struck by lightning Aileen would have said this was Zeus' doing.

Lee was still commentating. "Slytherin in possession—Flint with the Quaffle—passes Spinnet—passes Bell—hit hard in the face by a Bludger, hope it broke his nose—only joking, Professor—Slytherins score—Ah no…"

The Slytherins were cheering. No one seemed to have noticed that Aileen's broom was behaving strangely. It was carrying her slowly higher, away from the game, jerking and twitching as it went. The higher she went the more likely she was to be killed – either from the fall or because she would be noticed by Zeus who would sense a demi-god in his domain the moment she reached a certain hight limit.

Then suddenly, people were pointing up at Aileen all over the stands. Her broom had started to roll over and over, with her only just managing to hold on. Then the whole crowd gasped. Aileen's broom had given a wild jerk and Aileen swung off it. She was now dangling from it, holding on with only one hand. Aileentried reaching for her wand to cast a sticking charm on her hand but because of the wild bucking of her broom she was unable to grab it from its place in a specially designed pocket of her robes, without risking her grip on the broom.

Her broom began vibrating so hard, it was almost impossible for her to hang on, but Aileen's eyes hardened in determination and she gritted her teeth. She had not fought monsters all her life and escaped the Dursley's just to be killed by a frickin' broom.

The whole crowd was on its feet, watching, terrified, as the Weasley twin flew up to try and pull Aileen safely onto one of their brooms, but it was no good – every time they got near her, the broom would jump higher still. They dropped lower and circled beneath her, obviously hoping to catch her if she fell; something she was determined not to do, but them circling below her gave her some reassurances that she would not be killed if she was forced to let go; she trusted the twins to catch her.

Marcus Flint seized the Quaffle and scored five times without anyone noticing.

Suddenly Aileen wasable to direct her broom down low enough for her to grab it with her other hand and, in an impressive show of flexibility, roll with the broom so that she ended up sitting on it securely. Then in a move that shocked the entire crowed she made an immediate decent at ninety degrease, her hand coming of the broom for a brief second on the way down. When she got close enough to the ground, Aileen levelled out the broom while simultaneously jumping to the ground.

Then she took a deep breath, steadying her heart beat, and raised her hand above her head:

"I've got the Snitch!" she shouted and the game ended in complete confusion.

Despite the near death of Gryffindor's seeker, Lee Jordan was still happily shouting the results—Gryffindor had won by one hundred and seventy points to sixty – twenty minutes after the game ended and Flint was trying to argue that she had cheated.

Aileen heard none of this, though.

She was being made a cup of strong tea back in Hagrid's hut, with Ron and Hermione.

"It was Snape," Ron was explaining, "Hermione and I saw him. He was cursing your broomstick, muttering, he wouldn't take his eyes off you."

"Rubbish," said Hagrid. "Why would Snape do somethin' like that?"

Ron, and Hermione looked at one another, wondering what to tell him. Hermione decided on the truth, since Aileen was staring thoughtfully out the window and didn't look ready to engage in the conversation. She was trying to wrap her head around the fact that she found herself trusting the twins with her life – she had never trusted anyone so much before and she wasn't entirely certain where this trust for the twins came from and it was scaring her. She didn't even trust Ron and Hermione that much and she spent more time interacting with them. While her thoughts were trying to order themselves and she was trying to come to terms with this new revelation, Aileen was listening to Ron, Hermione and Hagrid with half and ear.

"Aileen found out something about him," Hermione told Hagrid. "He tried to get past that three-headed dog on Halloween. It bit him. We think he was trying to steal whatever it's guarding."

Hagrid dropped the teapot. "How do you know about Fluffy?" he said.

"Fluffy?" Ron asked incredulously.

"Yeah—he's mine—bought him off a Greek chappie I met in the pub las' year—I lent him to Dumbledore to guard the—"

Yes?" saidRon and Hermione leaned forward eagle.

"Now, don't ask me anymore," said Hagrid gruffly. "That's top secret, that is."

"But Snape's trying to steal it." Ron protested.

"Rubbish," said Hagrid again. "Snape's a Hogwarts teacher, he'd do nothin' of the sort."

"So why did he just try and kill Aileen?" cried Hermione. The afternoon's events certainly seemed to have changed her mind about Snape, since she had previously been defending the man due to her hero worshipping of authority figures. "I know a jinx when I see one, Hagrid, I've read all about them! You've got to keep eye contact, and Snape wasn't blinking at all, I saw him!"

"I'm tellin' yeh, yer wrong!" said Hagrid hotly. "I don' know why Aileen's broom acted like that, but Snape wouldn' try an' kill a student! Now, listen to me, all three of yeh—yer meddlin' in things that don' concern yeh. It's dangerous. You forget that dog, an' you forget what it's guardin', that's between Professor Dumbledore an' Nicolas Flamel —"

"Aha!" said Ron, "so there's someone called Nicolas Flamel involved, is there?"

Hagrid looked furious with himself but before he could do anything about the situation Aileen turned away from with window.

"Professor Snape's not the one trying to kill me or take the stone." Aileen spoke up sharply, her annoyance at herself coming across in her tone. "He was trying to protect me, and he went into the third floor corridor to stop whoever is trying to steal the object."

With her piece said Aileen got up and left her three shocked friends behind. Ron and Hermione had not known her opinion and they couldn't see how she could try and defend the man considering how he acted towards her in class. But she didn't see the surface hate Snape portrayed, she saw more than that. She saw a man trying so very hard for redemption, who was trying to protect children and he was conflicted in his emotions to her. There was something softer behind the hatred that he was taking out on her.

Edited: 29/06/17

Word count: 20,570

Copied: 7,402


	7. Chapter 7: Poseidon and Family Edited

Okay, lets start with: I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER. I'm just happily playing in JK's sand box. I DON'T OWN PERCY JACKSON either. I'm only allowed to play on the swing sets (pouts).

So, the next thing on my list of things to put on the top of this story: I've used a lot of the book structure of the first four years. By this I mean Aileen will be face a troll, save a dragon, go down the third floor, be blamed for opening the chamber, reveal her parseltongue abilities in the dueling club, save Ginny and kill the basilisk, and confront Sirius at the end of third year. Aileen will also be entered into the goblet, however she will be complete the tasks completely differently to Harry. If you don't like stories that do this then this isn't the story for you. Although I divert most majorly from the story line after book four, there are points through the first four years were Aileen dose something that Harry would never do because that is the way I've portrayed my character.

And finally, I have heavily edited the first twenty four chapters. You need to re-read the entire story to understand what happens after that point because it all ties together. By heavily edited, I mean nearly 40% of my story has completely been re-written. There is better characterization, more realistic sword skills and a little bit more on the emotional explanation of my character.

* * *

Chapter 7: Year one: Poseidon and Family

Everyone knew that Christmas was just around the corner when they woke on a sunny mid-December morning to find that Hogwarts had been covered in several feet of snow during the night. Because they were up in Scotland, the large Black Lack had begun to be covered by a very thin layer of ice. The Weasley twins found themselves in detention every night for two months with Filch after being caught bewitching snowballs to bounce of the back of Quirrell's head.

The students were restless for the holiday's to start having been surrounded by school work for two solid months (despite the weekends). The first years were especially anxious since this was the first time most of them had been away from family for so long. Aileen felt like one of the few odds ones out since she had never enjoyed Christmas before nor did she understand the point of the holiday beyond it being a time for families since she had never had a family before. Yule made more sense to her due to the religious connection to the old ways, but until she had researched more about it and the other celebrations, Aileen decided not to celebrate it just yet.

As the start of November had suggested, the frost on the ground was soon replaced by snow. The corridors were always cold from the bitter wind despite the use of flame torches on the walls. The classrooms where only a little better with the liberal use of warming charms. The only places that was truly warm were the Great Hall which had roaring fires and the common rooms.

One of the worst places to be were Snape's classroom. The dungeon corridors were cold, but they didn't hold the cold quite as well as Snape's classroom, where they could see their breath rising in a mist in front of them. The student's tried to stay warm by standing close to the cauldrons, but it didn't do them much good. Aileen wasn't sure if a warming charm would have an effect on the potion (most magic did effect the potion in one form or another) so she dared not cast one on her cloths. Fortunately, she had gotten used to a certain degree of cold and the dungeons had yet to reach a point where it would truly cause her problems; although she was the only one too not have a problem with their cutting skills due to the inability to effectively move their fingers.

"I do feel so sorry," said Draco Malfoy. It was during one of their potion classes – the only lesson were he felt brave enough to taunt Aileen without consequences. "For all those people who have to stay at Hogwarts for the Christmas because they're not wanted at home."

He was looking over at Aileen as he spoke. Crabbe and Goyle chuckled. Aileen, who was measuring out powdered spine of lionfish, ignored thembecause Hogwarts had become more of her home then the Dursley's ever had and she was not upset by this. She had long since gotten over the fact that her relatives did not love her (although the anger she felt towards Vernon was still completely justified in her opinion).

Ever since the Quidditch match, Malfoy had become more unpleasant. At first he had tried to make a joke about how some animal could replace her, but everyone (even the Slytherins) had been impressed with her ability to stay on the broom and so they didn't laugh. Eventually Malfoy had moved on to attacking Aileen about her lack of family when he realised that teasing Ron about his family got a rise out of him. Aileen was under the impression that he thought because it worked on one Gryffindor, it would work on another.

Aileen had decided that she wasn't going to be returning to Privet Drive for the holidays, and so when McGonagall had come around with her list she had been the first one to sign it. Aileen didn't feel sorry for herself, since she was sure this was going to be the best Christmas she had ever experienced since her parent's murder. Ron had gotten a letter from his parents the week before, letting him know that they were going to Romania with their little sister and so they would not be able to go home for Christmas. Aileen had noticed the slightly uneasy look the three eldest exchanged at this news, but Ron was glade for a reason to stay since he hadn't wanted to leave Aileen alone for the holiday when she revealed she had never celebrated Christmas.

Aileen, Hermione and Ron had been searching books for Flamel's name, curious about the artefact hidden inside the school. Unfortunately, they had very limited time to dedicate to the search and no starting point. They had discovered he wasn't in: Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century, or Notable Magical Names of Our Time, Important Modern Magical Discoveries, and A Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry. With the size of the library, Aileen feared they wouldn't find him before their seventh year without some Devine interference.

Hermione took out a list of subjects and titles she had decided to search while Ron strode off down a row of books and started pulling them off the shelves at random. Normally, Aileen would go for the most general overview books in the library so that she could see if he had been part of that section, figuring that if he was an extremely important wizard he would be mentioned in any overview books written. However, she started getting annoyed at their lack of progress and wandered over to the Restricted Section.

She had been wondering for a while if Flamel wasn't somewhere in there. Unfortunately, you needed a specially signed note from one of the teachers to look in any of the restricted books, and she knew she'd never get one since she was only a first year. Although she had not done anything, the teachers didn't trust her. Aileen was starting to get a suspicion that her father was a rule breaker and the teachers were waiting for her to follow in his footsteps despite the fact that she had not made any indication of such in the past three months beyond the flying incident which was done in the defence of a friend. The Restricted Section reportedly contained books with powerful or forbidden magic that wasn't taught at Hogwarts as well as magic that was so advanced previous headmaster decided that the student's shouldn't have access to the information without express permission for their own safety.

"What are you looking for, girl?"

"Nothing," said Aileen,thrown off by suddenly being addressed as girl _._

Madam Pince the librarian brandished a feather duster at her.

"You'd better get out, then. Go on - out!"

Aileen left the librarywithout a word as she pushed thoughts of her relatives away once again; the closer to the holiday she got the more her memories tried to overwhelm her: the more nightmares and flashbacks she got. She had been pushing them away for three and a half months now and she needed too sought through them but she never had any time to herself to do so beyond simply unleashing pent up emotions through her sword training.

She, Ron, and Hermione had already agreed they'd better not ask Madam Pince where they could find Flamel. They were sure she'd be able to tell them, but they couldn't risk the professors hearing what they were up to, because Madam Pince would be curious as to why three first years would be looking up someone who doesn't appear in any of their curriculum books.

Not daring to risk Madam Prince's anger, Aileen waited in the corridor for her friends to report back that they hadn't found anything. They had been looking in their spare time without any success. What they really need was a good couple of days without interruption or Madam Pince breathing down their neck. Maybe then they would have a chance of finding what they were looking for.

As she had predicted, Ron and Hermione joined her five minutes later with a shake of their heads as they headed off to lunch. Aileen had finally gotten into a normal food schedule, but she would still grab some fruit to snake on when they went down to lunch to stop Hermione from worrying because the other girl had noticed that Aileen didn't eat as much as everyone else. Since she snaked throughout the day, Aileen was able to play it off as a specialised diet because she had been a sickle child (which she also used to explain why she was so small and thin).

"You will keep looking while I'm away, won't you?" said Hermione. "And send me an owl if you find anything."

"And you could ask your parents if they know who Flamel is," said Ron. "It'd be safe to ask them."

"Very safe, as they're both dentists," Hermionesaid sarcastically since Ron was regularly forgetting Hermione's parents didn't know anything about the wizarding world. Normally Hermione took it as a complement because it meant she had learnt enough that she fit into her knew world, but at times like this, she did get offended at Ron's lack of tact and memory because Hermione was very proud of her parents.

Aileen knew that the only reason Ron and Hermione even tried to get along was because of her friendship with the both of them. If she wasn't there to mediate, then Aileen had no doubt that the fighting between the two would become more vicious and they wouldn't speak to each other outside of snide insults.

"Well you never know, myths and legions have been leaking into the non-magical world ever since the wizarding one formed. Maybe, if this guy's famous enough, stories of him would have leaked." Aileen said thoughtfully.

Once the holidays had started, Ron and Aileen were having too good a time to think much about Flamel. The Common Room was deserted since the only Gryffindor's staying were the Weasleys and Aileen. They sat by the fire eating anything they could spear on a toasting fork - bread, English muffins, marshmallows - and plotting ways of getting Malfoy expelled, which were fun to talk about even if they wouldn't work.

Normally while Ron ate his fill, Aileen would sit staring into the fire as she sorted through her memories unless Ron was talking to her. With the piece and quite that she was suddenly surrounded by she could once again come to terms with the fact that her uncle was in the wrong, that he should have never raised a hand to her and that she had done nothing wrong. Once her memories were sorted and locked away again, Aileen knew she would find it easier to deal with being surrounded by people once again come the New Year. She was hopping that maybe she would one day not have to do this every few months in order to stop her from attacking people.

Ron also started teaching Aileen wizard chess. This was exactly like non-magicalchess except that the figures were alive, which made it a lot like directing troops in battle. Ron's set was very old and battered. Like everything else he owned, it had once belonged to someone else in his family - in this case, his grandfather. However, old chessmen weren't a drawback at all. Ron knew them so well he never had trouble getting them to do what he wanted.

Aileen played with chessmen Seamus Finnigan had lent herfor the holidayand they didn't trust her at all. She wasn't a very good player yet and they kept shouting different bits of advice at her, which was confusing. "Don't send me there, can't you see his knight? Send him, we can afford to lose him." Aileen new she would probably learn better if she was watching someone play and without the shouting chess pieces before she actually tried it herself. At the moment she was only using a trial and error method.

On Christmas Eve,Aileen snuck out of the castle and headed down to the lake that was still relatively fine – the weather not having frozen it sold yet. Making sure no one was watching Aileen dived into the lake.

She had been going out to the lake as often as she could since the first week of school. It was a place where she could just relax, not think and have fun. The residence of the lake were mostly fish and kind water creatures and she could understand them all (although only the mer-people were physically capable of speaking a language). She had spent many hours over the last three months just speaking with the mer-people or swimming with the fish. The only creatures that weren't kind in the lake were the Grindylow but after she beat them for the eighth time they stopped bothering her unless they felt that they had a high enough number count to stand a chance (a number count that kept getting bigger each time they tried).

This night Aileen decided to head towards the mer-village. However before she got even half way there the water in front of her began to shift and she felt the power of someone approaching. Normally she could only sense a person's presence, and not their power-level but this person was strong (even stronger than Dumbledore). She quickly swam back a bit and held herself ready to swim away or fight depending on what they wanted (even if she knew that she was defiantly not read to fight someone of this power level).

When the current died down Aileen was faced with a man she had not seen since she was seven. He was tall and held himself proudly. His hair was a nest, floating in the water like a wave, and raven black. His face was fall of laughter lines and but what really caught Aileen's attention was his eyes. His sea-green eyes. Before the other could react Aileen launched herself at him and hugged him tight.

"Dad." She muttered.

"Hello, my little princess." He murmured returning the hug after a shocked pause.

They floated like that for a while before Aileen pulled herself back, smiling up at her dad. He had been the first person during her time at the Dursleys who had showed an interest to her wellbeing, and he had offered a way of protecting herself. Although this wouldn't normally have allowed her to trust him as much as she did, Aileen had recalled several more memories from her childhood were Poseidon had been there, or her mother had spoken about him.

"What are you doing here?" Aileen asked softly, shocked that she was actually with her father. She thought she would never get to see him again after that time in the park.

"I wanted to come and see my daughter in person." Poseidon answered. "Especially since I knew you had been coming to this lake a lot and had probably figured out who I am."

"Figured it out when I was eight." Aileen told him. "That was the first time I breathed under water."

"I am surprised more monsters didn't come after you then," Poseidon frowned in concern.

"Um…dad, they've been appearing practically bi-weekly." Aileen muttered causing Poseidon's eyes to widen.

"How did I not notice that?" he demanded of himself. "I've been keeping an eye on you as much as I can and, when I'm not watching, my Nymphs are. I've even sent a couple of my Cyclopes to keep an eye on you. All of them reported that you were growing into a powerful hereon, and you dealt well with the occasional monster attack."

"Hay its fine. The monsters can't get inside the wards around Hogwarts, nor the once around the Dursley's home. I'm safe." Aileen told him reaching out and touching his arm in an attempt at comfort: something she was still trying to get used to giving and (to an extent) receiving.

"Come, I did not stop attending to my duties just so that we can discuss monsters." Poseidon shook of his anger and offered a smile.

And with that they began swimming in the lake together. As they swam Poseidon talked, telling her of Atlantis, of Triton (her brother) and of his family on Olympus. Aileen notice that he avoided mentioning his wife and Zeus but he spoke fondly, and sadly, of Hades who had not been allowed on Olympus outside of the Winter Solstices in close to two thousand years.

Finally, as the night was coming to an end, they stopped and Aileen hugged her dad once again knowing that she would need to be getting back to the dorm before the sun rose in the sky.

"Thank you for coming dad, I know your duties must take up a lot of your time." She muttered.

"I wish I could come and visit you more often child. And I will try, I promise." He vowed. "I have also brought you gifts."

He lifted his hand and the water swirled there for a moment. When it died down two things rested in his hand: one a beautiful neckless that had a tear drop, sea blue gem at the heart of it. The chain weaved like the waves in the ocean and encasing the gem was thin strips of silver and gold that were twisted into many different animals of the deep. Other sea creatures were also present in the chain itself. The second item was a dagger about the length of her forearm. It was held in a sheaf that was also decorated with depictions from the sea – except this time it looked to be what she imagined Atlantis would be.

"They're beautiful." Aileen whispered, gentle taking the dagger from her father and examining it. What did it say about her, that she went straight for the weapon before the jewellery?

"I want you to keep them both with you at all times. The dagger for protection – it is like your sword and will always return to your person. It is also goblin made and so will work on monsters and humans." Aileen strapped the dagger to her thigh since she was too short for it to strap to her forearm like it was designed to be. "The neckless is to show that you are my first daughter, the Princess of the Sea." He said, swimming behind her and putting it on.

"You mean…" Aileen looked up at her dad with wide eyes.

"You will, one day, hold the same power as my son, Triton except in the role of princess." He told her.

"But I am just a demi-god." Aileen told him, wide eyed.

"It matters not." Was all Poseidon said, before hugging her tightly "I will try and return when I can." He vowed for a second time before fading into the water.

Aileen floated there for a moment, her hand resting on her neckless before she returned to the castle.

Aileen woke early the next morning despite how late she went to bed. She showered and changed into a pair of black jeans and a long sleeved green shirt. Her hair was tied back in its normal plait and she put on both the pendants that Poseidon had given her then strapped the dagger to her thigh. Frowning at it Aileen sighed before twisting it so the dagger was on the inside of her leg then she strapped her wand to it as well – but this time on the outer leg. Normally the wand was around her waist but for the sake of not having her dagger confiscated this would have to do.

Prepared for the day, Aileen drew her wand and levitated her presents, bringing them down to the common room and placing it under the tree that had appeared there the night before. Then she snuck into Ron's bedroom and levitated his presents; repeating the process with Percy, Fred and George (although she had to be careful in the twins dorm room since they had traps laying everywhere).

Then she sat down on the windowsill, reading a second year book on defence, while she waited. She had been steadily making her way through all the first year texts she could get her hands on, and out of those subjects Defence was the only one that she had managed to move onto second year so far. However, by the end of the Christmas holidays she was hoping to have moved all of her independent study onto the second year books (as listed by the International Confederation for Wizards in 1932).

Fred and George were the first ones down nearly an hour after Aileen had gotten herself settled. They were closely followed by Percy; out of the three, only Percy had bothered to get dressed but the twins had had the forethought to at least put on a nightgown over their PJs.

"Good Morning and Merry Christmas," Aileen said merrily, smiling at the boys as they just collapse in too arm chairs, obviously not completely awake yet despite the tales she had heard about the excitement and early risings of Christmas morning.

"Morning, Aileen." Percy greeted.

"Merry Christmas," George began, beaming at her.

"Little Raven." Fred finished. The boys had taken to calling her Raven because of her skills on the broom and her habit of finding the highest spot in the common room to sit (the window sill). They had started with other bird names, but settling on Raven because of the colour of her hair, and because of the trickster association that the Native American's gave to Ravens.

"Merry Christmas," said Ron sleepily ashe wondered into the common room nearly half an hour after his brothers. He was also still in his pyjamas, and he hadn't bothered to pull a nightgown on, so he moved close to the fire in order to stay warm.

"Merry Christmas," Aileen said smiling at him as she jumped down from the sill and sat on the floor in front of the boys with her legs crossed.

"And now we are all here: presents." Aileen said causing Fred, George and Ron to cheer childishly while Percy laughed at their antics. Normally Percy would frown in mild disapproval, but this was the childish side of the twins that Percy liked – the one that did not come close to bullying and rule breaking.

Aileen handed out all the presents, although she frowned slightly when she noticed that most of Fred and George's presence were addressed 'The Twins'.

Aileen's first present was addressed 'To Aileen, from Hagrid.' Inside was a roughly cut wooden flute. Hagrid had obviously whittled it himself. Aileen gently played a tune - it sounded a bit like an owl singing.

"Wow I didn't know you could play." Ron said, impressed.

"We had music lessons in primary school and each year we were allowed to choose a different instrument." Aileen explained as she gently placed the flute down. "The younger you are, the simpler the instrument. The flute was the second instrument I was allowed to learn."

A second, very small parcel contained a note.

We received your message and enclose your Christmas present, from Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia.

Taped to the note was a fifty-pence piece.

"That's friendly,"saidAileenhonestly as she remembered the other Christmas present she had gotten over the years and had to suppress a shudder. The only reason they had even bothered making the attempt to be friendly this year was because she was at a school fall of magic, where other people could see her. She figured they would have looked better not sending her anything.

Percy, Fred and George all frowned but Ron was fascinated by the fifty pence, and so did not notice his brother's anger or realisation over what the fifty-pence pieces might were older, and more aware of the possibility that family didn't always love each other. From what they had heard, the elder Weasleys feared what sort of home life Aileen had because at the very least it was neglectful.

"Weird!" he said, "What a shape! This is money?"

"Unlike the wizarding world, the non-magical can protect precious metals from being melted down and re-sold. So they used special paper for the higher currency and cheap metals and alloys for the lower values. That is a fifty pence pieces, below it in currency are the one pence, two pence, five pence, ten pence and twenty pence pieces. The other coins are pound, which is the same as two fifties, and two pound, which is the same as four fifty pence pieces or two pound coins. One pound is the equal to 5 Sickles and 19 Knuts, while fifty pence is the same as 2 Sickles and 25 Knuts." Aileen explained, pleased she finally had a reason to explain non-magical currency to her friend.

"Seriously?" Ron asked shocked, looking up from his examination.

"Yes," Aileen answered with a smile, ignoring the older Weasley's suspicious look. That fifty pence if converted could probably buy one box of sweets and little else. "You can keep, if you wish."

"Really? Thanks." Ron smiled at her, pocketing the coin before something in Aileen's pile caught his attention. "Oh no, my mom's sent you a Weasley Sweater." He groaned in dismay.

"What's wrong with the Weasley sweater?" Fred demanded as he and George both reached for their own packages that were similarly shaped to the parcel that Ron had been staring at one Aileen's pile.

Aileenopened the parcelwhile they was talking and found a thick hand-knitted sweater in emerald green and a large box of homemade fudge.

"Every year she makes us a sweater," said Ron, unwrapping his own, "and mine's always maroon."

"That's really nice of her," saidAileenimmediately pulling on her sweater and found that it was so large on her it went just past her bum. But it was warm and comfortable, and almost seemed to surround her in love, so Aileen didn't mind. It just meant that she could wear it for a couple more years.

Fred and George had gotten blue sweaters, one with a large yellow F on it, the other a G, they pulled theirs on, and much to Aileen's amusement they actually wore the right ones.

"Aileen's is better than ours," said Fred, smiling brightly.

"She obviously makes more of an effort if you're not family." George agreed jokingly.

"Why aren't you wearing yours, Ron?" Fred demanded,when he noticed that Ron had simply put his aside. "Come on, get it on, they're lovely and warm.

"I hate maroon," Ron moaned half-heartedly as he pulled it over his head.

"You haven't got a letter on yours," George observed. "I suppose she thinks you don't forget your name. But we're not stupid - we know we're called Gred and Forge."

Aileen laughed at that. She knew that they liked tricking people and by saying that, Percy and Ron would think they had swopped sweaters.

"Put yours on as well Percy." George said turning to their other brother.

Percy had received a red sweeter with a large, golden, P on the front.

"P for prefect! Get it on, Percy, come on, we're all wearing ours, even Aileen."

"I - don't - want - " said Percy thickly, as the twins forced the sweater over his head, knocking his glasses askew.

"Looks good on you Percy," Aileen smiled leaning forward and putting the older boys glasses to rights.

Her next present also contained candy – a relatively large box ofevery flavoured beans and a small chocolate frogboxfrom Hermione. She placed the sweets to one side – she would put them inside her bedside table draw, next to the sweets she still had left over from the train ride, when she went back to her dormitory.

This only left one parcel that Aileen hadn't unwrapped yet while the others were still working their way through their piles. Aileen picked it up and felt it. It was very light. She unwrapped it and _s_ omething fluid and silvery grey went slithering to the floor where it lay in gleaming folds.

Ron gasped.

"I've heard of those," he said in a hushed voice, dropping the large box ofchocolate frogs he'd gotten from Hermione. "If that's what I think it is - they're really rare, and really valuable."

"What is it?" Aileen picked the shining, silvery cloth off the floor. It was strange to the touch, like water woven into material.

"It's an invisibility cloak," said Fred and George together, a look of awe on their faces. "I'm sure it is - try it on."

Aileen threw the cloak around her shoulders and Ron gave a yell. "It is! Look down!"

Aileen looked down at herbody, but there was nothing there. She was sure that she must look quite weird, being just a head suspended in mid-air, her body completely invisible. She pulled the cloak over her head.

"Wicked." Fred grinned.

"Can we borrow it sometime?" George asked.

"No, I fear the school would not be standing by the time you're finished with it." Aileen said.

"And you two can sneak round well enough without it." Percy agreed making the boys simultaneously pout and puff up in pride causing Aileen and Percy to fall over laughing.

"There's a note!" said Ron suddenly. "A note fell out of it!"

Aileen gentle pulled off the cloak and seized the letter. Written in narrow, loopy writing she had never seen before were the following words:

Your father left this in my possession before he died.  
It is time it was returned to you.  
Use it well.  
A Very Merry Christmas to you.

There was no signature. Aileen stared at the note. Ron was admiring the cloak.

"Who would encourage you to pull pranks and break rules like that?" Percy asked with a disapproving frown. He wouldn't say anything about the cloak because it belonged to Aileen's father and he had seen the tires of happiness in her eyes, but he would pull her aside and remind her of the rules if he had to. She had been adopted into the family by Ron, Fred and George, which meant it was his responsibility to make sure she didn't get into too much trouble.

"Ah, come on Percy. Don't be a spoil sport." Fred pouted.

"What else would you use such a cloak for?" George agreed.

"Sentimental value?" Percy suggested with a raised eyebrow. "Avoided pranks? Seeing friends in other houses? When she's older, seeing potential boyfriends without being seen? Hiding gifts from nosy roommates and family?"

Fred and George paused, staring in surprised shock at all the suggestions that Percy had come up with of the top of their head before they offered him a bow of acknowledgement. Sometimes they forgot that Percy was still part of the family that had birthed two generations of pranks (their uncles Fabian and Gideon before them) and had hidden his true nature from their other baring mother.

"I'd give anything for one of these," Ron said, ignoring his brother's conversation, while Aileen took in their interaction with a pleased amusement. She knew that the brothers sometimes forgot about this side of Percy, and that Percy himself was often left feeling underappreciated – particularly by Ron. "Anything. What's the matter?"

"Nothing," said Aileen, shaking her head and smiling at her oblivious friend while Fred, George and Percy looked at her in worry having noticed the way her eyes were still a bit damp despite the amusement from watching their interaction. But they didn't push, it was obvious she didn't want to talk about it, and Aileen was more likely to talk her emotions through with Hermione then Ron who was tactless and didn't understand subtle cues.

Aileen felt strange. Who had sent the cloak? Had it really once belonged to her father?

Continuing to smile softly she took the cloak and folded it, placing it to one side. Ron distracted the others by exclaiming over the peace of non-magical chocolate Aileen had been able to get to go with his Christmas present. Madam Pomfrey had been kind enough to help since she had a non-magical mother and is comfortable in the non-magical world. This revelation prompted Fred, George and Percy to open the last present in their piles.

For Fred, she had gotten a book on advanced transfiguration (including the beginning stage of the animagus transformation) and a large bar of bournville chocolate. For George, she had gotten a book on advanced potions and a large bar of white chocolate. The twins both blinked back tears before pulling Aileen into a tight hug. Aileen was sure the fact she had gotten individual gifts for each twin meant more to them then the gifts themselves.

For Percy, she had gotten a book on Psychology and a second one on business since she knew he wanted to go on to work in the ministry and improve his station in life. Aileen hoped that the Psychology book would help him tone down his – almost arrogant – wilding of authority and the business book was to help him succeed at his job. Like with the others she had also gotten him some chocolate – chocolate and mint.

Aileen had never seen such a Christmas dinner before. She knew that the Dursley ate a lot of food – especially during special occasions like Christmas – but she had never had to cook the amount of food that had been prepared for the feast that night. There was turkey, potatoes (roasted, boiled and mashed), chipolatas (although it seems that Hogwarts did not have the joy that was chipolatas wrapped in bacon), peas, sprouts, honey roasted carrots and parsnips and thick, rich gravy and cranberry sauce. Everything that was laid out on the table was cooked well, in fact, she would go so far as to say that it was better than their normal cooking which (according to Ron) was some of the beast food he had ever eaten.

Since there wasn't that many students left at the school, Dumbledore created a long table for everyone to sit. Since Aileen and the Weasley's were the last student's down, they separated the students from the teachers. Aileen was sat next to professor Flitwick while Percy was opposite her and next to Professor Sprout. Ron was next to Aileen, with Fred and George next to Percy.

Next to each empty plate was wizard crackers. They weren't the posh, boring ones that Petunia insisted on getting each year, filled with jokes (for the family dinner) or poems (for the neighbourhood gossip dinner). Instead, with the aid of magic, they went off with a blast like a cannon and revealed different types of hats. Aileen ended up wearing a rear admiral's hat, Percy had a Victorian top-hat, Fred a Stetson, George a deerstalker and Ron a boater. Much to Aileen's amusement, Dumbledore was wearing a flowered bonnet.

Flaming Christmas puddings followed the turkey. Percy nearly broke his teeth on a silver sickle embedded in his slice; everyone learned after that to cut the pudding into small sections to ensure there was nothing hidden in the centre. Although Percy was the only one unfortunate (or fortunate) enough to end up with a Sickle. Aileen watched Hagrid getting redder and redder in the face as he called for more wine, finally kissing Professor McGonagall on the cheek, who, to Aileen's amazement, giggled and blushed, her top hat lopsided. Aileen decided to avoid most of the staff for the next two days – she did not have a good experience with drunken people. Although, she was grateful that neither Professor Flitwick nor Professor Sprout had drunk much – restraining to one glass since they were next to students.

Aileen made sure not to eat too much, especially nothing to sugary, because her stomach was still so small from her time at the Dursleys. She knew that she would have to start cutting her meals in half again during the last month or two of the school year so she could prepare herself for the holidays unless she could find a way of getting and preserving food so that she would have access to it during the holidays. It was on her to do list, since she didn't want to have to go back to being starved and get rid of all the head way she had made against her malnutrition.

Aileen and the Weasleys spent a happy evening having a furious snowball fight on the grounds. Then, cold, wet, (Aileen had willed herself wet when she realised that the melting snow wasn't effecting her as it should be) and gasping for breath, they returned to the fire in the Gryffindor common room, where Aileen broke in her new chess set (from her cracker) by losing spectacularly to Ron. She suspected she wouldn't have lost so badly if Percy hadn't tried to help her so much, she had started to learn how to hold her own and could now beet Fred, George and Percy.

It had been Aileen's best Christmas day ever. Yet something had been nagging at the back of her mind all day. Not until she climbed into bed was she free to think about it: the invisibility cloak and whoever had sent it.

Aileen sat, fully dressed, on her bed. She was glad to have the entire dorm room to herself, because it meant she didn't have to worry so much about making noise nor did she had to make it look she went to bed at a reasonable time when she was actually hiding behind her curtains reading and waiting for her dorm mates to go to sleep. Aileen had stashed the cloak under her pillow so she could be near this reminder of her father, but she pulled it out now and gentle traced patterns into the light material.

Her father's... this had been her father's. She let the material flow over her hands, smoother than silk, light as air. Had he used this cloak to explore the vast corridors of Hogwarts? Had he used it with his friends, as a means of bonding with them? She didn't know, but what she did know was that she wanted to try the cloak. She wanted to wander the same halls as him, in the same way, and hope that it made her feel closer.

Aileen wrapped the cloak around herself, and looked down. Her legs were invisible to her own eyes, only the moonlight and the shadow's touched the floor of her dorm. When she pulled the head up and looked down, Aileen could once again see her body since it was all hidden under the cloak. Checking in the mirror that every part of her was covered, Aileen nodded in satisfaction.

Although Aileen had previously explored Hogwarts at night without the cloak, this time somehow felt different. More exciting as she was hidden from all the eyes of Hogwarts. Aileen crept out of the dormitory, down the stairs, across the common room, and climbed through the portrait hole.

"Who's there?" squawked the Fat Lady.

Aileensaid nothing, letting the portrait fall close. Although the Fat Lady had not rated her out after any of her late night wondering, Aileen decided to let the Lady assume that someone had went to open the portrait from the inside and then changed their minds.

Once she was out in the corridor, Aileen took a moment to decide where she wanted to go. It didn't take long for her to decide to head to the library. She hadn't read as much as she liked so far during the holiday, even if she had completed her homework (Hermione had made her promise that she would have it all done before Christmas day). The cloak, could also get her into the restricted section of the library, which may answer some of her questions – and not just about Flamel.

The library was pitch-black and very eerie. Aileen lit the tip of her wand so that she could see the books better (not that is made much of a difference with her terrible eyesight, but it gave her the pretence of knowing where she was going). Her wand looked as if it was floating along in mid-air, and even though Aileen could feel her arm supporting it, the sight gave her the creeps. She made sure she could pull the light under the cloak with a seconds notice.

The Restricted Section was right at the back of the library. Ducking carefully under the low rope that separated these books from the rest of the library, she held up her wand to read the titles.

They didn't tell her much. Their peeling faded gold letters spelled words that she couldn't always make out. It was easier to read the Ancient Greek and Latin titles but some of them were in old English and others were too faded (or small) for her eyes to see. Some had no title at all. One book had a dark stain on it that looked horribly like blood. The hairs on the back of Aileen's neck prickled. Maybe she was imagining it, maybe not, but she thought a faint whispering was coming from some of the books. Aileen decided to stay away from the books that were giving her such a creepy feeling.

She had to start somewhere. Gently clamping her wand between her teeth, she looked along the bottom shelf for an interesting looking book. A large black and silver volume caught her eye. It was covered in dust, and looked like it had been moved form it's place since Hogwarts was built. She pulled it out with difficulty, because it was very heavy, and, balancing it on her knee, let it fall open.

Carefully she read the first few pages – it was about the wards of Hogwarts. She had felt the magic that dominated the school, but she had previously thought that there were no longer any existing books about the wards outside of the headmaster's office. Aileen carefully put it to one side, because it was interesting but not what she was actually looking for.

She continued carefully scanning the books along the shelves.

A shriek from the other side of the Restricted Section startled Aileen and she heard footsteps coming down the corridor outside. Quickly Aileen picked up thestack of five interesting books (one on the goddess Hecate, the diary of Salazar Prince, a book on healing spells and one on the most dangerous of animals) she had gathered; put out the light on her wand, and headed for the door. She had eight days to read and return the books (although she would probably end up having to take one or two of them out again) since Madam Pince only checked the Restricted Section every ten days.

She passed Filch in the doorway; Filch's pale, wild eyes looked straight through her, and Aileen slipped under Filch's outstretched arm and streaked off up the corridor, attempting to put some distance between her and whoever set off the alarm.

She came to a sudden halt in front of a tall suit of armour. She could hear voices approaching her.

"You asked me to come directly to you, Professor, if anyone was wandering around at night, and somebody's been in the library Restricted Section."

Aileen felt the blood drain out of her face; it was Filch and to her horror, it was Snape who replied, "The Restricted Section? Well, they can't be far, we'll catch them." She could get around Filch unnoticed, but she couldn't get around Snape as easily. He was very hyper-aware of his surroundings at all times, and despite being invisible Aileen knew she wasn't silenced.

Getting her wits about her as the two around the corner, Aileen took a deep breath and beganbacking away as quietly as she could. A door stood ajar to her left. It was her only chance of not being detected in such a narrow corridor. She squeezed through it, holding her breath, trying not to move it, and to her relief she managed to get inside the room without their noticing anything.

They walked straight past, and Aileen leaned against the wall, breathing deeply, listening to their footsteps dying away. That had been close, very close. It was a few seconds before she noticed anything about the room she had hidden in other than the fact she was perfectly safe and the only one there.

The room looked like it used to be a classroom, but since the student population had been shrinking in the last hundred years due to the last two wars, it was unused. Stacked along one of the walls were desks and chairs as well as the teacher's desk. It was rather daunting being in a classroom that looked like it belonged in an old abandoned building. The only thing in the room not covered in dust was a mirror.

It was magnificent, taller than an average person with an elaborate fold frame and clawed feet. The mirror looked like it had been stashed out of the way a few days ago, as thought someone was coming back for it when they found a more suitable place to store it. Stepping closer, Aileen noticed that there was an inscription along the top curve of the mirror: Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi.

Stepping directly in front of the mirror, Aileen's heart beat spiked as she span around to take in the room. The mirror hadn't just shown her in an empty room (or just an empty room since she was covered by the cloak). Instead, it showed her surrounded by a whole group of people. Reassured that the room was empty, Aileen turned her attention back to the mirror.

There she was, reflected in it, white and scared-looking, and there, reflected behind her, were nine others. Aileen looked over her shoulder - but still, no one was there. Or were they all invisible, too? Aileen dismissed this idea nearly immediately since she would have noticed if there were people in there – invisible or not.

There was a woman standing right behind her reflection, smiling at her and waving. Aileen reached out a hand and felt the air behind her. If the women was really there, she'd have been able to touch her, their reflections were so close together, but she felt only air. The women and the others existed only in the mirror.

She was a very pretty woman. She had dark red hair and her eyes _\- her eyes are just like mine,_ Aileen thought, edging a little closer to the glass. Bright green - exactly the same shape, but then she noticed that she was crying; smiling, but crying at the same time. The tall, thin, black-haired man standing next to her put his arm around her. He wore glasses, and his hair was very untidy.

"Mom? Father?" she whispered, her hazy memories that had been slowly returning to her since she had learnt the existence of magic hadn't been detailed on her parent's features. But her mother's eyes and hair, and her father's wild black hair were unmistakable.

They just looked at her, smiling. And slowly, Aileen looked into the faces of the other people in the mirror.

Next to her mother was Poseidon and in front of Poseidon, on her right was a young man that looked similar to Poseidon except his hair was brown and more tamed – Triton, her big brother.

Behind her mother was an extremely beautiful women, with eyes like a kaleidoscope; Aileen wasn't sure who that was, but she thought it might be a goddess because she couldn't imagine a mortal women holding that much beauty. Looking a little closer, Aileen noticed that the women's body and hair colour were similar to Aileen's mothers, but her cheek bones, eyes and forehead were different. Somehow softer.

Then on the beautiful women's left (standing close to Poseidon) was a young boy with black hair and sea-green eyes. He had soft features and was maybe five or six years old. It was the little boy she had dreamed about – Percy Jackson – her little brother. Behind Percy was his mother, a beautiful red head with laughing brown eyes and a kind smile. Percy had her smile and chin but the rest of his features he got from his father. Aileen was absently glad that she inherited her mother's hair and not her father's or dad's which were wild and looked difficult to tame.

The last two were men at the forefront of the mirror she barely recognised, but she knew who they were. They were her uncles. One had shoulder length black hair, aristocratic features and laughing grey eyes. He was smirking and looking to be planning a prank. The other man looked more serious and warn, with a scar travelling down his face, brown hair flecked with grey and old cloths but his golden eyes also danced with mirth.

Aileen chocked back a sob as she realised that she was looking into the faces of her family for the face time that she could truly remember. Most of these people were dead, or out of her reach. She didn't know what happened to her uncles, but Aileen assumed they were dead since she didn't see or hear from them once her parents were killed. Surely if they were still alive they would have contacted her? But, unlike her parents, these men had aged in the mirror while her parents still looked like they were in their twenties. Perhaps they were still alive then, and they just hadn't been able to contact them. If she could find out their names, perhaps she could get her answers.

They smiled and waved at Aileen and she stared back, hugging her books closet to her chest as she took in every detail that she could; her left hand pressed flat against the glass as though she was hoping to fall right through it and reach them. She had a powerful kind of ache inside her, half joy: half terrible sadness.

"You could have woken me up," said Ron, crossly the next morning. Aileen had stayed before the mirror for several hours before the sound of a distant noise had brought her back to her senses and allowed her to escape to the common room before dawn.

"You can come tonight, I'm going back, and I want to show you the mirror." Aileen responded, immediately Ron's face light up.

"I'd like to see your mom and dad," Ron said eagerly.

"And I want to see all your family, all the Weasleys, you'll be able to show me you're other brothers and everyone."

"You can see them any old time. Just come round my house this summer."

Aileen smiled at the way Ron had said it ashough it was so natural. Like the thought of Aileen not coming around his house hadn't even occurred to him.

"Anyway, maybe it only shows dead people."

Aileen's smile slipped at Ron's lake of tact, sometimes he said things without thinking about it, and that really hurt her feelings. But despite this character fault, he was still her friend; she had precious few of them and couldn't afford to be picky.

"Shame about not finding Flamel, though. Have some bacon or something, why aren't you eating anything?" Ron continued to talk, before he noticed that Aileen wasn't eating anything. She had a cup of tea cradled in her hands, but she hadn't touch any of the food since they had sat down. Although not as observant as Hermione (or Neville) about Aileen's eating habits, he was aware enough to notice when Aileen wasn't eating anything at all.

"I think I ate too much yesterday," Aileen informed him with a light grimace, her stomach had been feeling queasy since she woke up. "I'll try and eat something later.

"Are you all right?" said Ron. "You look odd."

"Fine, just my stomachs a bit upset." Aileen answered easily. She didn't want him worrying about her, because she feared that her inability to eat was more anxiety and fear then it was a stomach bug.

With Ron covered in the cloak, too, they had to walk much more slowly the next night when they headed out into the corridors.

"I'm freezing," said Ron. "Let's forget it and go back."

"We're close," Aileen informed him; they had been walking the corridors for nearly twenty minutes since Aileen had to remember the way back to the classroom. "Besides, I told you to wear normal cloths."

They passed the ghost of the Ravenclaw Tower (the Grey Lady, Aileen thought she had heard a couple of elder Ravenclaws call her in passing) in the opposite direction, but saw no one else. Just as Ron started moaning that his feet were dead with cold, Aileen spotted the suit of armour that was at the end of the corridor she was looking for.

"It's here - just here - yes!"

They pushed the door open. Aileen removed the cloak and moved towards the mirror. There they were. Her family beamed at the sight of her.

"See?" Aileen whispered.

"I can't see anything."

"Look!"

"I can only see you."

"Look in it properly, go on, stand where I am."

Aileen stepped aside, but with Ron in front of the mirror, she couldn't see her family anymore, just Ron in his paisley pyjamas.

Ron, though, was staring transfixed at his image. "Look at me!" he breathed in wonder.

"Can you see all your family standing around you?" Aileen asked curiously.

"No - I'm alone - but I'm different - I look older - and I'm head boy!"

"What?" Aileen was confused: did the mirror not show their families?

"I am - I'm wearing the badge like Bill used to - and I'm holding the house cup and the Quidditch cup - I'm Quidditch captain, too." Ron tore his eyes away from this splendid sight to look excitedly at a confused Aileen.

"Do you think this mirror shows the future?"

"How can it? All my family are dead -" (which wasn't strictly true but some of the people in the mirror were dead). After a moment of silence Aileen continued in a whisper: "I wonder what it is showing us, if not our family, the future or the past?"

A sudden noise outside in the corridor put an end to their discussion.

"Quick!"Aileensaid, throwing the cloak over them. She did not want to be caught wondering the corridors late at night although she imagined the punishment would not be as bad during the Christmas holiday depending on who they were caught by.

The door was pushed open slightly andthe luminous eyes of Mrs. Norris came round the corner. Ron and Aileen stood quite still: 'could Mrs Norris smell them?' was the only thought going through Aileen's head. After what seemed an age, she turned and left.

"This isn't safe - she might have gone for Filch, I bet she heard us. Come on." And Ron led the wayout of the room.

The snow still hadn't melted the next morning and the lake had finally frozen over meaning she couldn't go out for a swim.

"Want to play chess, Aileen?" said Ron.

"No, I think I've lost enough games to you today, let my pride heal." Aileen said softly from her usual seat.

Fred and George, who were playing a game of exploding snap, laughed at that. They found great enjoyment in watching her getting beaten so soundly by their little brother. They had been playing a game of Skittles earlier, before Percy had decided to abandon them so he could go and get some study in. Since the game wasn't as fun with less people, Fred and George began building their tower of exploding snap cards. Since Ron wasn't as good a building with cards (in fact it always blew up on him) he had been trying to convince Aileen to play something else with him since he was trying to distract Aileen from the mirror.

"Why don't we go down and visit Hagrid?" Ron asked.

"No... _"_ Aileen said having seen their giant friend with Professor Kettleburn only five minutes before _._

"I know what you're thinking about, Aileen that mirror. Don't go back tonight." Ron pleaded, confusing the twins.

"I wasn't" Aileen said truthfully, she had been thinking about the stories of her brother Triton and wondering if he would actually like her.

For athird night she found her wayto the classroom, this timefaster than before now she knew, for certain, where it at a fast, but silent pace; determined to get there, yet wise enough not to make any nose so as to alert anyone to her presence.

Aileensank down to her kneesin front of the mirrorso she was slightly shorter than her brother. Reaching forward she gently stroked were his cheek was, and his image leaned into what would have been her hand.

"We'll meet one day, little brother." She whispered softly. "I promise."

"So - back again, Aileen?"

Aileen felt as though her insides had turned to ice; no one had been able to sneak up on her in three years. Even when she was distracted or focused on something else Aileen was always aware of her surroundings.

She looked behind her.

Sitting on one of the desks by the wall was none other than Albus Dumbledore, Aileen must have walked straight past him and the only reason Aileen didn't flinch back about being alone in the room with the man was because her magic seemed to trust him.

"I didn't see you, sir." Aileenattempted to keep her voice mostly calm but allowed some curiosity to come forward – she wasn't sure if she was successful in hiding all her discomfort though. Aileen got the impression that Dumbledore was very good at reading people.

"Strange how near-sighted being invisible can make you," said Dumbledore, and Aileen wasn't sure she was relieved to see that he was smiling. "So," said Dumbledore, slipping off the desk and taking a few strides before lowing himself to sit on the floor with a stiff Aileen, "you, like hundreds before you, have discovered the delights of the Mirror of Erised."

"I didn't know it was called that, Sir." Aileenducked her head and looked at the man through the corner of her eye as she returned her gaze to the mirror.

"But I expect you've realized by now what it does?"

"It shows me my family-"

"And it showed your friend Ron himself as head boy." Dumbledore said calmly seeming not to care that he was letting his student know that he had watched her the night before as well.

"How did you know - ?" Aileenasked worried about how easily this man could move around her without her knowing; not even Professor Snape had been able to do that (as far as she knew) despite the fact that the man could move in the shadows without a sound.

"I don't need a cloak to become invisible," said Dumbledore gently. "Now, can you think what the Mirror of Erised shows us all?"

"It shows us our desires." Aileen answered sadly.

"Yes and no," said Dumbledore quietly. "It shows us nothing more or less than the deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts. You, who have never known your family, see them standing around you. Ronald Weasley, who has always been overshadowed by his brothers, sees himself standing alone, the best of all of them. However, this mirror will give us neither knowledge nor truth. Men have wasted away before it, entranced by what they have seen, or been driven mad, not knowing if what it shows is real or even possible."

"Most of what I see in this mirror is impossible, Sir. I know that my mum and father have passed on and I won't be able to see them. But there are still those in this mirror that live," she looked up and locked eyes with him for a second before looking back at the mirror. "And I can make my own family." As she said this the Weasley's appeared in the mirror along with Neville and Hermione.

"The Mirror will be moved to a new home tomorrow, Aileen, and I ask you not to go looking for it again. If you ever do run across it, you will now be prepared. It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that. Now, why don't you put that admirable cloak back on and get off to bed?"

"Professor Dumbledore? Can I ask you something?" Aileen asked, not moving from her position on the floor.

"Obviously, you've just done so," Dumbledore smiled. "You may ask me one more thing, however."

"What do you see when you look in the mirror?" she spoke quietly, not even sure if it was loud enough for the other to hear.

"I? I see myself holding a pair of thick, woollen socks." At Aileen's highly sceptical look he elaborated _;_ "One can never have enough socks. Another Christmas has come and gone and I didn't get a single pair. People will insist on giving me books."

"One can never have too much knowledge, sir." Aileen said softly before she gracefully got to her feet and pulled the cloak over her shoulders. "I hope you have a goodnight, professor."

And with that she headed back to her dorm room not sure if she was angry, annoyed or insulted that Professor Dumbledore new her deepest desire and yet trusted her so little considering the man had also appeared in the mirror next to her father (the second time she visited) meaning he was part of her family – by blood or not did not matter to Aileen since she had so few experiences with family and those by her blood did not love her (discounting godly blood that is).

Aileen did, however, resolve to buy the man a pair of socks for his next Christmas since she had detected truth behind the man's words. Half lies were, after all, the best lies.

Edited: 24/07/2017

Word count: 10,435

Copied: 2,466


	8. Chapter 8: Baby Dragon Edited

Okay, lets start with: I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER. I'm just happily playing in JK's sand box. I DON'T OWN PERCY JACKSON either. I'm only allowed to play on the swing sets (pouts).

So, the next thing on my list of things to put on the top of this story: I've used a lot of the book structure of the first four years. By this I mean Aileen will be face a troll, save a dragon, go down the third floor, be blamed for opening the chamber, reveal her parseltongue abilities in the dueling club, save Ginny and kill the basilisk, and confront Sirius at the end of third year. Aileen will also be entered into the goblet, however she will be complete the tasks completely differently to Harry. If you don't like stories that do this then this isn't the story for you. Although I divert most majorly from the story line after book four, there are points through the first four years were Aileen dose something that Harry would never do because that is the way I've portrayed my character.

And finally, I have heavily edited the first twenty four chapters. You need to re-read the entire story to understand what happens after that point because it all ties together. By heavily edited, I mean nearly 40% of my story has completely been re-written. There is better characterization, more realistic sword skills and a little bit more on the emotional explanation of my character.

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Chapter 8: Year one: The Baby Dragon

Aileen spent the rest of her Christmas holidays, reading, being beaten at chess by Ron, talking with Percy about the Ministry and listening to Fred and George plan their pranks (and offering some friendly advice). Aileen no longer felt the need to seek the mirror and see her parent's faces, and she was able to put her mind and emotions back in order once more in time for the start of the new term.

With the start of term, Hermione forced Ron and Aileen to, once again, take up their skimming of the books in the library whenever they could. However, Aileen had even less time than the other two, what with Quidditch practise starting up again. Despite having won their last match, Wood was training the team harder than ever. Their three nights a week training session became four nights a week, despite the endless rain that had replaced the snow with the end of December.

The twins regularly complained that Wood was taking his fanaticism too far. They liked a good game of Quidditch like anyone else, but they didn't enjoy playing in the rain for hours on end. Although Aileen didn't agree with the reason for the excessive training (beating the Hufflepuffs in order to overtake Slytherin) she did agree that the training was good for her. The more training she did, on top of her sword practise, late night reading and regular lessons meant that she was far too tired to have nightmares which led to having around three or four hours of sleep each night which was more than she had been getting for years.

Wood, tired of the teams grumbling decided to spring on them the reason why he was suddenly taking the match far more seriously. The practise had ended, and since the rain wasn't too heavy, the twins had decided to play a game. They were dive bombing each other and pretending to fall off their brooms while the other twin 'tried' to catch them. Wood had been getting steadily angrier with them as the session progressed, and he finally seemed to snap.

"Will you stop messing around!" he yelled acting the team off guard since he had already dismissed them from training for the day. "That's exactly the sort of thing that'll lose us the match! Snape's refereeing this time, and he'll be looking for any excuse to knock points off Gryffindor!"

George really did fall off his broom at these words. Aileen was immediately at his side checking for injuriesbut luckily he had only been a couple of feet from the floor and stationary unlike his brother who was a good fifteen feet up.

When Oliver finally let them leave after a lecture about proper conduct on the field and in practise, the others stayed to shower and talk (i.e. complained about Oliver, the weather and homework). Since the locker room showers were communal, and Aileen didn't want Katie, Angelina and Alicia to see her scars she never showered with them. Instead, Aileen headed back to the common room to speak briefly with Ron and Hermione before going for a shower.

Ron and Hermione were playing chessin front of the fire place since all their homework was done. Chess was the only thing Hermione ever lost at,which was good for both Hermione (deflating her belief in her intelligence) and Ron (increasing his confidence). Since they had started playing, (combined with their early morning talks when Aileen was doing Hermione's hair) Hermione wasn't so quick to shove her knowledge down their throats unless she was completely certain she was right.

"Don't talk to me for a moment," said Ron when Aileen took a seat on the floor, close to the fire so that she could warm up a bit since her cloths were a bit damp, "I need to concen-" He caught sight of Aileen's face. "What's the matter with you? Why do you look so serious?"

Aileen hesitated, she had been doubting herself since she began the trek up here. Aileen knew that Ron and Hermione thought that Snape was the one trying to steal the stone and kill her, and would immediately panic when she told them that Snape would be refereeing. But they would find out sooner or later, and would be upset with her if she didn't say something now.

"Professor Snape has convinced the teacher's to let him referee the next Quidditch match." Aileen told them bluntly.

"Don't play," said Hermione at once.

"Say you're ill," said Ron.

"Pretend to break your leg," Hermione suggested.

"Really break your leg," said Ron.

"I can't," saidAileen mildly annoyed at her friend's belief that Snape was trying to hurt her. "There isn't a reserve Seeker. If I back out, Gryffindor can't play at all."

Hermione went to continue the argument, while Ron paused realising that she was right. However, before anything else could be said, a distraction came in the form of Neville hopping in the common. Aileen didn't have the faintest idea how he had been able to get back to the common room since his legs were stuck together, but Aileen's respect went up slightly for the under confident boy. He must have been very determined to make it as far as he did since Aileen knew he had been in the library researching a plant that Professor Sprout had mentioned that day.

Everyone fell over laughing exceptAileen moved forward and caught him before he could fall flat on his face (judging by the redness, Aileen assumed he hadn't been as lucky the other times he had fallen) while Hermione performed the counter-curse. Neville's legs sprang apart

"What happened?" Hermione asked him as Aileen led him over to sit with them, glaring at the majority of their house for laughing at Neville's misfortune. Binding someone's legs together like that was bullying not pranking. The fact that her house laughed at a boy who was clearly upset by the incident was shameful.

"Malfoy," said Neville shakily. "I met him outside the library. He said he'd been looking for someone to practice that on."

"He's getting worse. This is the first time he's used magic instead of just words." Aileen frowned angrily at the news. Malfoy was still annoyance to her and Ron, but this was the first time he was bold enough to cast on someone. And he had to wait for Neville to be on his own before he did it. how long before he felt he knew enough about magic to try casting on her, Ron and Hermione?

"Go to Professor McGonagall!" Hermione urged Neville. "Report him!"

Neville shook his head. "I don't want more trouble," he mumbled.

"You've got to stand up to him, Neville!" said Ron. "He's used to walking all over people, but that's no reason to lie down in front of him and make it easier."

"There's no need to tell me I'm not brave enough to be in Gryffindor, Malfoy's already done that," Neville choked out.

"I think you're plenty brave enough to be in Gryffindor. You climbed three floors of stairs, and travelled to the other side of the castle with your legs bound. Not many people can say that can do that. You're the best Herbology student in the year, and I think with a bit of confidence you could be great at magic. Besides Gryffindor is more than bravery. Its loyalty and having the nerve to stand up for what you believe. It's being chivalrous to those around you. With time, and confidence, your inner lion will grow. You just need to remember, you're worth twelve of Malfoy."

Knowing that Neville didn't often get sweets, and hopping to cheer him up with chocolate Aileen handed him the frog that had been in her pocket, following her rather impassioned speech. She had been subtly working on Neville's self-esteem – focusing on his Herbology skill – but it was a slow process. Hopefully this conversation will stay with him through the years as he grows into himself and not his father's shoes.

"Thanks," Neville said offering her a wavering smile that said he didn't quite believe her but he was grateful Aileen tried. "I think I'll go to bed...D'you want the card, you collect them, don't you?"

As Neville walked away, Aileen looked at the card Neville had handed her. "Of course." Aileen breathed in shock. She didn't need to turn the card around to know that she had found Flamel. This was why she could remember his name, she had read it on Dumbledore's card.

"Of course, what?" Hermione asked confused.

"Flamel. He was friends with Dumbledore." Aileen answered, turning the card round and handing it to Hermione. "This was why I could remember hearing about him. I read it on the back of Dumbledore's card on the train ride."

As the match drew nearer, Aileen became more and more nervous no matter what she told Ron and Aileen new Snape did not mean her any harm, it was easier to cause her harm when she was up in the air, wide open to attack and the person trying to kill her was hidden in the crowd. And every time she was in the air she had the uncontrollable fear that she would draw the attention of Zeus to her – she already had one person trying to kill her in the air, she did not need a god doing so as well.

The others on the team were also having trouble controlling their nerves for the game. It was the first time in seven years since a Gryffindor Quidditch team was good enough to beat the Slytherin's who had the cup in their office. The team, and the rest of Gryffindor were wondering if they could win their game with Snape refereeing.

Aileen was escorted to the locker room by her friends. She was already dressed in uniform, so she arrived slightly later than the rest of her team. She knew her friends were worried about her, and not so subtly wondering if they were about to see her killed. Aileen stayed between the twins during Oliver's strained pep talk which he stopped when he realised that none of his team were listening to him. Instead, he pulled Aileen off to the side.

"Don't want to pressure you, Potter, but if we ever need an early capture of the Snitch it's now. Finish the game before Snape can favour Hufflepuff too much."

"The whole school's out there!" said Fred, peering out of the door. "Even-blimey-Dumbledore's come to watch!"

Aileen's heart did a somersault.

"Dumbledore?"Aileen repeated in shock as moved to stand next to Fred and looked out the door.

He was right, there was no one else with a beard of the same silvery colour. Aileen could have laughed out loud with relief. She was (relatively) safe. There was simply no way that whoever was trying to hurt herwould dare to if Dumbledore was watching: which, she imagined, was probably why the elder man was there. Aileen doubted that Snape was very happy at Dumbledore's presence since he had gone through a lot in his attempt to protect her.

The moment the whistle was blown signalling the start of the game Aileen took to the air and started circling at a fast pace, preventing the Hufflepuff seeker from tracking her.

Not even five minutes into the game she suddenlywent into a spectacular dive, which drew gasps and cheers from the crowd. She streaked toward the ground like a bullet. Aileen didn't notice it at the time but she was speeding straight at Snape. When she was within inches of the professor, she suddenly swerved, her hand shooting out to grab the snitch and she stopped parallel to the man.

"Sorry professor, I didn't mean to nearly hit you." Then she held out the snitch for everyone to see.

The stands erupted; it had to be a record, no one could ever remember the Snitch being caught so quickly.

"And thanks professor, for trying to protect me." And with that she dived down to the ground before her team could catch her in a group hug and nock Professor Snape from his broom. When Aileen landed, surrounded by a stream of Gryffindors, she felt a hand on her shoulders.

"Well done," said Dumbledore quietly, so that only Aileen could hear. "Nice to see you haven't been brooding about that mirror...been keeping busy...excellent..." then the older man was gone and she was only surrounded by excited students.

Aileen left the locker room alone some time later. The others had gone to party – not even taking the time to shower – so Aileen had taken her time in the locker room hoping the party would die down when she joined them. Aileen was carrying her Nimbus Two Thousand back to the broom shed. The evening air was cool as it blew gently against her small frame.

Aileen had reached the shed. She leaned against the wooden door and looked up at Hogwarts, with its windows glowing red in the setting sun. Hogwarts truly was a beautiful sight especially at night. She could forget all her worries just looking up at her.

And speaking of worries...

Movement by the doors caught Aileen's attention, as a figured (hidden by a black hooded cloak) came from the castle. The cloak disguising their features, and the swiftness of their walk, told Aileen that they didn't want to be identified as they set a path for the forbidden forest. But Aileen could recognise that prowling walk easily.

Snape was sneaking into the forest while everyone else was at dinner - what was going on?

Snape had demonstrated over the last few months that he was very aware of his surroundings. No matter her past, and what skills she had learnt, Aileen wasn't yet ready to attempt following Snape on foot when he was clearly being extra vigilant compared to his normal state. So she took to the sky on her broom, and silently followed at a safe distance above him, as Snape set a quick pace to jog to the forest. Aileen assumed he must have some training to maintain the same speed across that distance and not be remotely winded.

When Snape disappeared into the trees, Aileen had more difficulty following because the branches were thick and obscured the forest floor from view. Carefully, Aileen circled above where she knew a clearing was – hoping that Snape had decided to stay close to the edge of the forest. It was as she was brushing the tops of the branches that she could faintly make out voices. Pleased that she had found Snape, Aileen landed on a sturdy branch. Carefully placing her Nimbus in the tree so it wouldn't fall, she climbed down a bit so that she could see Snape and whoever he was meeting.

Snape was stood opposite Quirrell, whose stutter had gotten worse than ever as he replied to whatever Snape had just asked.

"...d-don't know why you wanted t-t-to meet here of all p-places, Severus..."

"Oh, I thought we'd keep this private," said Snape, his voice icy. Aileen winced, that was the sort of voice that had students either spilling their secrets or running in fear. What had Quirrell done to anger him? "Students aren't supposed to know about the Sorcerer's Stone, after all." Aileen raised an eyebrow. Either Snape knew that they had been researching the stone and discovered what was hidden in Hogwarts, or one of his Slytherins had found out and then gone to him with their theories.

Quirrell was mumbling something too low for her to catch at such a distance but she assumed it was confusion.

Snape interrupted him, his patience's obviously running thin."Have you found out how to get past that beast of Hagrid's yet?"

"B-b-but Severus, I-"

"You don't want me as your enemy, Quirrell," said Snape, taking a threatening step toward him.

"I-I don't know what you-"

"You know perfectly well what I mean."

"I h-have…"An owl hooted loudly, and Aileen flinched. "…d-d-done nothing."

"Don't lie to me. Your little bit of hocus-pocus won't work on me. Now speak quickly, I'm waiting."

"B-but I d-d-don't-"

"Very well," Snape cut in, obviously noticing the futility of the conversation. "We'll have another little chat soon, when you've had time to think things over and decided where your loyalties lie."

Aileen watched Quirrell closely over the following days. He seemed to be getting paler and Aileen had told Ron and Hermione what had happened they were under the impression that Quirrell was now the only thing standing between Snape and the stone.

Aileen thought differently.

As far as she was concerned, it was Snape trying to protect the school from Quirrell, who for some reason, was after the stone. Quirrell didn't know how to get past, at the least Fluffy, and Snape was trying to make sure it stayed that way. And if he couldn't, intervene before Quirrell could go after the stone.

Since they didn't have another way of knowing if the suspect had made it passed Fluffy, Aileen, Ron and Hermione would listen at the door to make sure he was still growling. Snape was sweeping about it in his usual bad temper, although Aileen noticed if he weren't in class Snape was close to either her or Quirrell. Ron had started telling people off for laughing at Quirrell's stutter while Aileen would just shake her head and ignore the whole thing.

Despite Aileen and Ron's respective worry about the stone, Hermione's attention was caught by something else – the date. It was two and a half months before their end of term exams and Hermione was panicking. Immediately upon realising how 'close' the date was she drew up a study schedule which matched her carefully colour coded notes.

Aileen would have been fine with Hermione's sudden study crazy, if it wasn't for the fact that the other girl tried pressuring her into a schedule as well – disregarding all the things Aileen did that Hermione didn't (and she wasn't including the thing's Hermione didn't even know about).

Ron was also getting impatient with Hermione's nagging, although his study schedule wasn't as imposing on his time since Hermione had realised that Ron liked spending a couple of nights a week playing chess against the many hopefuls in the tower (each of them determined to take his title from him).

"Hermione, the exams are ages away." Ron whined when she started in on them again. Ron had finished the last of his homework an hour ago and was flicking through a Quidditch magazine instead of going over revision notes (which he hadn't even written).

"Ten weeks," Hermione snapped. "That's not ages, that's like a second to Nicolas Flamel."

"But we're not six hundred years old," Ron reminded her with a roll of his eyes while Aileen reminded quiet. She didn't interfere into their arguments unless it was going to get out of hand or disturb other people in the common room. "Anyway, what are you studying for, you know it all?"

"What am I studying for? Are you crazy? You realize we need to pass these exams to get into the second year? They're very important, I should have started studying a month ago; I don't know what's gotten into me…"

"Hermione, we're first years. The work we've been taught is mostly basic theory, with very little actual hard content. The Os you've been getting on homework show that you understand the theory, and unless you've suddenly forgotten everything you could sit your exams tomorrow and get an easy EE. Which means, in two months' time you can easily get an O in everything without burning yourself out now. You need to learn to moderate and balance revision with relaxation as the content you need to know will slowly increases throughout the years. If you use this study schedule…" Aileen pointed to the overflowing chart, "when you're in your third year, let alone fifth or higher, you will burn out and probably fail." Aileen got up, and pulled Hermione to her feet.

"Lavender, Parvati, Fay," Aileen called to the other girls from their dorm room. "Bonding time?" Aileen asked off them as she pulled a mildly protesting Hermione with her.

"Sure," Fay agreed, closing the book she was reading.

"Awesome," Parvati said in relief. She had been getting very board with the game she was playing with Lavender.

"I'll get the makeup bag." Lavender said brightly.

Although they weren't the closest dorm group, Aileen made the effort to bond with the other girls in their dorm over a common interest – looking their best. Although Aileen preferred the natural look, she had discovered (from working with Hermione) that she was very good at doing hair. This had result in a monthly make-up and girls talk bonding session that even Hermione agreed to when she realised she was getting closer and understanding her dorm mates better than before.

However, they didn't have a set time during the month when they would have a night, one of them would just call a bonding time, when they felt like it was needed. Aileen decided that some relaxing girl time was exactly what Hermione needed because it meant she couldn't but head's with Ron and the girls had banned her from talking about homework or revision early on. But they let her talk about some of her favourite story books.

Despite Aileen's best efforts to side track Hermione whenever she felt like she was going too far, the teacher's weren't helping her.

They piled so much homework on them that the Easter holidays weren't nearly as much fun as the Christmas ones. Aileendidn't understand the sudden increase of homework. It's not like cramming their heads full of written stuff, instead of cranking down and going over the bits they needed to know in class and then doing periodic homework's throughout the year to do with that subjected staggered, will help them remember more. In fact you will learn less and have a harder understanding of the material since they don't go over the homework after it has been mark and most people don't understand the concepts in the book because of the way it's written – most the words seeming to be jargon (or in most cases Latin).

This sudden increase of homework was what resulted in the group staying in the library one afternoon. Both Aileen and Hermione had finished what had been assigned, and Hermione was now trying to recite the twelve uses of dragon blood by heart, while Aileen was doing some independent research into the history of the wizarding world. Ron was trying to finish his homework but he kept staring forlornly out the window since it was the first time in months they had had a warm day.

"I'll never understand this," Ron said in frustration and he threw down his quill.

Aileen looked up, about to try and convince him that he only had half an essay left to write then they could go outside, when she noticed something behind her friend. "Hagrid! What are you doing in the library?"

Hagrid shuffled into view, hiding something behind his back. He looked very out of place in his moleskin overcoat. She had never seen him in the library before, and it was odd to see his large and bulky frame try and get through the relatively narrow bookcases.

"Jus' lookin'," Hagrid answered, looking around the library shiftily as he made sure that Aileen's question hadn't drew any unwanted attention to him. Luckily, it was nearly lunch time and so only the most studious and desperate students were in the library.

"An' what're you lot up ter?" He looked suddenly suspicious. "Yer not still lookin' fer Nicolas Flamel, are yeh?"

"Oh, we found out who he is ages ago," said Ron impressively. "And we know what that dog's guarding, it's a Sorcerer's St—"

"Ron," Aileen cut him off as Hagrid hurriedly shushed him. They looked around together to make sure no one was listening. They didn't need Quirrell finding out they knew what was going on.

"Don' go shoutin' about it, what's the matter with yeh?" Hagrid agreed with Aileen, as he frowned in annoyance at Ron.

"There are a few things we wanted to ask you, as a matter of fact," Ron continued, not remotely concern by the glare Aileen was giving him or the way Hagrid had abolished him, "about what's guarding the Stone apart from Fluffy—"

"SHHHH!" said Hagrid again. "Listen—come an' see me later, I'm not promisin' I'll tell yeh anythin', mind, but don' go rabbitin' about it in here, students aren' s'pposed ter know. They'll think I've told yeh—"

The trio waited until about three o'clock that afternoon before going down to visit Hagrid. Normally when they came down to visit the friendly game keeper the curtains were open – even during the winter. However, this time the curtains were closed despite the fact that it was starting to get warmer and so Hagrid's small cabin was probably feeling very hot – especially considering the smoke Aileen spotted coming from the chimney.

When Hagrid let them in, he quickly shut the door behind them like he didn't want anyone else to see into his hut. Aileen took in the room, noticing that nothing had change since the last time she had been down for a visit, although the fireplace was emitting enough heat to make her feel like there wasn't enough oxygen in the room.

Hagrid made them tea and offered them stoat sandwiches, which they refused having learnt their lesson about Hagrid's cooking on previous visits.

"So—yeh wanted to ask me somethin'?" Hagrid questioned hesitantly once they were all settled.

"Yes," Aileen agreed, she didn't see the point in trying to dance around the point since Ron had made it obvious they had some questions. "We were wondering if you could tell us what's guarding the Sorcerer's Stone apart from Fluffy."

Hagrid frowned at her. "O' course I can't," he said. "Number one, I don' know me-self. Number two, yeh know too much already,so I wouldn' tell yeh if I could. That Stone's here fer a good reason. It was almost stolen outta Gringotts—I s'ppose yeh've worked that out an' all? Beats me how yeh even know abou' Fluffy."

Guessing that being straight on blunt wasn't going to get them very far, Hermione interfered. She used flattery and praise to make her question of 'who was guarding the stone' seem more innocent. What seemed to really convince Hagrid to speak was that Hermione alluded to the trust Dumbledore must had placed in Hagrid for him to be allowed to help guard the stone. Aileen shot Hermione a thankful look while Ron beamed at her proudly. He had been trying to get Hermione to be more relaxed about the rules, and here she was convincing a member of staff to give them information they shouldn't have.

Hagrid's chest swelledup in pride before he began speaking. "Well, I don' s'pose it could hurt ter tell yeh that let's see-he borrowed Fluffy from me- then some o' the teachers did enchantments- Professor Sprout—Professor Flitwick—Professor McGonagall—" he ticked them off on his fingers to make sure he didn't miss anyone, "Professor Quirrell —an' Dumbledore himself did somethin', o' course. Hang on, I've forgotten someone. Oh yeah, Professor Snape."

"Snape?" Ron asked horrified but Aileen was more concerned about Quirrell's name on the list. He had proven himself incompetent in lessons and against a Troll. Therefore, why was he being trusted to defend a magical artefact as powerful and sort after as the philosopher stone? Unless he was hiding his skills and powers to throw off suspicion?

But then Dumbledore must know that there was something wrong with Quirrell's personality and skill. Which means Snape may be watching Quirrell on Dumbledore's orders until such time as they gathered enough proof to do something about it, or at least find out who Quirrell was working for (because Aileen had no doubt that the man was working for someone). It would be what she would do if she found herself in a similar situation. Although she would try and avid doing it in such a way as to endanger the children.

"Yeah—yer not still on abou' that, are yeh? Look, Snape helped protect the Stone, he's not about ter steal it." Hagrid defended angrily, probably remembering Aileen's reaction the last time Hermione and Ron accused Snape. He didn't know how to deal with upset women.

"You're the only one who knows how to get past Fluffy aren't you, Hagrid?" Aileen inquired anxiously. "And you wouldn't tell anyone, would you? Not even one of the teachers?"

"Not a soul knows except me an' Dumbledore," said Hagrid proudly.

Aileen relaxed slightly, they were able to get information out of Hagrid easily enough but he had yet to tell anyone any of her secrets (she visited him on her own sometimes when she felt like she needed to confine in someone). If Hagrid didn't tell her secrets, then she doubted that he would tell Dumbledore's since he worshiped the headmaster.

"Hagrid, can we have a window open? I'm boiling." Aileen asked, hoping to steer the conversation away from the stone and to safer territory – such as why Hagrid was in the library and why he was acting so guarded.

"Can't, Aileen, sorry," said Hagrid.

Aileennoticed him glance at the had noticed it burning when she walked in but hadn't paid particularly close attention to it but with Hagrid glancing at it guiltily she figured that was something important about it. Aileen looked to the fire and frowned.

"Hagrid—what's that?"

But she already knew what it was. In the very heart of the fire, underneath the kettle, was a huge, black egg. She also had a very good idea about what the egg would hatch to become as well. Before they had left the library, Ron had gone to the section that Hagrid had come from and discovered he was reading about dragon eggs.

"Ah," said Hagrid, fiddling nervously with his beard, "That's—er…"

"Where did you get it, Hagrid?" said Ron, crouching over the fire to get a closer look at the egg. "It must've cost you a fortune."

"Won it," said Hagrid. "Las' night. I was down in the village havin' a few drinks an' got into a game o' cards with a stranger. Think he was quite glad ter get rid of it, ter be honest."

Aileen's eyes narrowed. From what Ron had said (when discussing Charlie and his obsession), Dragons were illegal in Britain. They had only one magical dragon reserve just outside of wales, holding twenty five dragons. Any dragons reported in Britain were immediately capture and taken to the preserve but a wild dragon hadn't been reported in close too two hundred years due to the increased strictness in which dragon egg and trading was treated. To be caught breeding or looking after a dragon could be a heavy fine or prison (depending on bread, time and damage). The fact that a stranger just happened to come across Hagrid, who didn't really understand the consequence of his actions in relation to his beloved creatures, was highly suspicious.

"But what are you going to do with it when it's hatched?" Hermione asked the perfectly reasonable question. She wasn't as familiar with Hagrid's creature love, or Ron's knowledge which he had obtained from his brothers.

"Well, I've bin doin' some readin'," said Hagrid, pulling a large book from under his pillow. "Got this outta the library—Dragon Breeding for Pleasure and Profit—it's a bit outta date, o' course, but it's all in the egg in the fire, 'cause their mothers breathe on I 'em, see, an' when it hatches, feed it on a bucket o' brandy mixed with chicken blood every half hour. An' see here—how ter recognize diff'rent eggs—what I got there's a Norwegian Ridgeback. They're rare, them." Hagrid said proudly.

His love of creatures and his expertise in the area wasvcoming through as he continued explaining. This was the only consolation Aileen had. Hagrid knew what he was doing around dangerous creatures, and if he didn't and he knew he was about to encounter one, he made his best effort to get the information. Which made him probably the best person outside of an actual dragon handler to deal with the situation – Aileen even doubted the Care of Magical Creatures Professor (Kettleburn? She thought she heard the twins complaining about him once?) would be able to handle a baby dragon.

"Hagrid, you live in a wooden house," Hermione reminded the man gentle. But it did no good. Hagrid was set on looking after the egg, and he had stopped listening to them as he merrily stroked the fire to ensure that it stayed burning.

Aileen made the effort to go down to see Hagrid every day, even if it was just for a couple of minutes each day to make sure he was doing okay. The keeper of keys promised to send her a note with Hedwig when the egg started hatching, which according to his research should have been any day. An indeed, only three days after finding out about the dragon, Aileen got a letter at breakfast with only two words:

It's hatching.

Ron wanted to skip Herbology and go straight down to the hut. Hermione wouldn't hear of it.

"Hermione, how many times in our lives are we going to see a dragon hatching?" Ron whined trying to convince their intellectually inclined friend.

Before they could continue their argument Aileen waked them both upside the head. She rarely had cause to hit Hermione, but Ron was often doing or saying something to disserve it. The hit wasn't painful or damaging, but it was a shock that generally got them to stop doing whatever stupid, annoying or idiotic thing that had annoyed her. Sometimes she felt far older when dealing with her two friends then the elven years old she actually was.

"Enough you two. We will go to Herbology and then Hagrid's. And that is the end of this discussion." She informed them bluntly, her eyes flickering back to Malfoywho was only a few feet away and he had stopped dead to listen. _How much had he heard?_ Aileen didn't like the look on Malfoy's face at all.

When the end of lesson was signified with the ringing of the bell, the trio packed up as quickly as they could and set off at a brisk pace to Hagrid' kept a look out for Malfoy but did not spot him anywhere.

Hagrid greeted them, looking flushed and excited."It's nearly out." He ushered them inside.

The egg had been removed from the fire, and was now resting in the centre of Hagrid's dining room table. The black shell was now covered in deep cracks, showing that it wouldn't be long until the dragon broke free. From inside the egg, the three of them could hear a funny clicking noise as the dragon attempted to scratch its way out.

Aileen, Hermione and Ron drew their chairs close around the table, like Hagrid's, so they could watch the dragon emerge with bated breaths.

All at once there was a scraping noise and the egg split open. The baby dragon flopped onto the table. It wasn't exactly pretty; Aileen thought it looked like a crumpled, black umbrella. Its spiny wings were huge compared to its skinny body; it had a long snout with wide nostrils, the stubs of horns and bulging, orange eyes. It sneezed. A couple of sparks flew out of its snout.

"Isn't he beautiful?" Hagrid murmured. He reached out a hand to stroke the dragon's head. It snapped at his fingers, showing pointed fangs. "Bless him, look, he knows his mommy!"

Aileen reached forward and gently ran her finger along the dragon's spine. It let out a loud keening noise and relaxed under her fingers. Hagrid beamed at her. Since the dragon made no attempt to harm her, she continued stroking it but avoided the head since the dragon hadn't liked it when Hagrid had tried to stroke it there.

"Hagrid," Hermione began hesitantly, as she watched her friend pet the baby dragon, "how fast do Norwegian Ridgebacks grow, exactly?"

Hagrid was about to answer when the colour suddenly drained from his face — he leapt to his feet and ran to the window.

"What's the matter?" Ron asked.

"Someone was lookin' through the gap in the curtains—it's a kid—he's runnin' back up ter the school."

Aileen bolted to the door and looked out. Even at a distance there was no mistaking him. Malfoy had seen the dragon.

The dragon keened despondently behind her.

The trio spent the next week on edge, the smirk on Malfoy's face promising a horrible plan to be in motion. Since Hagrid and they weren't immediately descended upon by teachers, Aileen assumed that he was waiting to get more information and cause the most damage before he told someone. In an attempted to get rid of the dragon before Malfoy set his plan in motion, the group spent their free time trying to reason with Hagrid.

"Just let him go," Aileen urged. "Set him free."

"I can't," said Hagrid. "He's too little. He'd die."

They looked at the dragon. It had grown three times in length in just a kept furling out of its nostrils. Hagrid hadn't been doing his game keeping duties because the dragon was keeping him so busy. There were empty brandy bottles and chicken feathers all over the floor. He was currently curled up like a cat, his head resting on Aileen's lap while she gently stroked it. For some reason the Dragon seemed to really like her. It was especially mystifying for Aileen because Dragon's were creatures of fire, while she was born of the sea.

"I've decided to call him Norbert," said Hagrid, looking at the dragon with misty eyes. "He really knows me now, watch. Norbert! Norbert! Where's Mommy?"

"Hagrid," said Aileen softly, not wanting to startle the dragon who was ignoring Hagrid's call in favour of sleep, "give it three weeks and Norbert's going to be as long as your house. Malfoy could go to Dumbledore at any moment."

Hagrid bit his lip. "I—I know I can't keep him forever, but I can't jus' dump him, I can't."

Aileen suddenly had an idea and she turned her head to Ron. "Charlie." she said.

"You're losing it, too," said Ron who hadn't dared get within arm's reach of the dragon like Aileen was always doing and he believed that she was insane for doing so. "I'm Ron, remember?"

"No—Charlie—your brother, Charlie. In Romania. Studying dragons. We could send Norbert to him. Charlie can take care of him and Norbert will be with his own kind!"

"Brilliant!" said Ron. "How about it, Hagrid?"

By the time Aileen had extracted herself from under Norbert,Hagrid had agreed that they could send an owl to Charlie to ask him if he can take a baby dragon.

The following week dragged by. Wednesday night found Hermione and Aileen sitting alone in the common room, long after everyone else had gone to bed. Hermione had been trying to focus on reading her book, but Aileen noticed that the other girl was starting to doze lightly. She wasn't used to staying up so late. However, they were waiting for Ron to return from Hagrid's before going to bed. It was the new routine they had set up. Every night, one of them would go to Hagrid's, help him look after the dragon so that Hagrid could at least do some of his duties and throw of suspicion. That night, it had been Ron's turn and he didn't return until just after Midnight.

The portrait opened, and it looked like no one had stepped through it, but then Ron took of Aileen's invisibility cloak. In order to make it easier to get through the castle undetected, Aileen had been letting her friend's borrow the cloak. She figured, if her father was as loyal as people say, that he would approve of her and her friend's using it to help Hagrid.

"It bit me!" he said, showing them his hand, which was wrapped in a bloody handkerchief. "I'm not going to be able to hold a quill for a week. I tell you, that dragon's the most horrible animal I've ever met, but the way Hagrid goes on about it, you'd think it was a fluffy little bunny it bit me he told me off for frightening it. And when I left, he was singing it a lullaby."

"Ron, sit now." Aileen ordered, grabbing her medical bag from within her pockets.

Once Ron was sitting she gentle grabbed the other boy's hand and cleaned it using the canteen of water she kept in the bag. Then she grabbed some herbs and ground them together in a paste to help with the swelling and draw any poison from the wound. Once that was spread on his hand, she wrapped it in bandages.

"Ron, if it starts to swell you _will_ go to Madam Pomfrey." Aileen said, her eyes hard as she stared her friend down. She may have been studying healing, and have a bit of experience, but she wasn't an expert nor had she had formal training. If the hand started to swell, it meant her herbs hadn't stopped the poison or it the wound was infected. In which case, a mid-witch's training would be needed.

Ron gulped fearfully and nodded his assent.

There was a tap on the dark window. Aileen looked up and smiled as she recognised the white blob that was sat on the window sill.

"It's Hedwig!" Aileen said happily, as she jumped up to let her friend. She had been very excited when Aileen said she had a letter to be sent to Romania. "She'll have Charlie's answer!"

Grateful that they were the only ones in the common room, Aileen read the answer aloud.

Dear Ron,

How are you? Are you enjoying Hogwarts? Who does the beautiful owl belong to?

Anyway, thanks for the letter—I'd be glad to take the Norwegian Ridgeback, but it won't be easy getting him here. I think the best thing will be to send him over with some friends of mine who are coming to visit me next week.

Trouble is, they mustn't be seen carrying an illegal dragon. Could you get the Ridgeback up the tallest tower at midnight on Saturday? They can meet you there and take him away while it's still dark.

Send me an answer as soon as possible.

Love,

Charlie

They looked at one another. "We've got the invisibility cloak," said Aileen. "It shouldn't be too difficult – I think the cloaks big enough to cover two of us and Norbert."Aileen was very glad for her small size in that moment since they would not have been able to fit otherwise.

It was a mark of how bad the last week had been that the other two agreed with her. Anything to get rid of Norbert and the threat ofMalfoygoing to a teacher and getting Hagrid in trouble.

However, there was a hitch on their plan. By the next morning, Ron's bitten hand had swollen to twice its usual size despite Aileen's herbs.

Ron tried protesting but Aileen grabbed him by the ear, and then to the amusement of the entire common room, physically dragged the boy from the common room to the Hospital Wing despite the fact that he was a head and a half-taller than her. Fred and George exchanged looks with each other and Percy, before they followed their brother to the hospital wing to make sure that it wasn't anything serious. They were charged with looking after him, after all, and Aileen had looked very worried when she grabbed the protesting boy.

Since Ron refused to say anything in his embarrassment, Aileen told madam Pomfrey that Ron had been bitten by a snake. She had put some herbs on it to stop the bleeding and swelling but she hadn't know it was poisonous (according to all accounts a Ridgeback doesn't become poisonous until it was three months old but it seems Norbert was an early developer). And with that excuse Aileen left Ron in Madam Pomfrey's capable hands and reassured the three Weasley siblings that it wasn't anything serious and Madam Pomfrey would have him fixed in no time.

They would have felt sorry for Hagrid when the time came for him to say good-bye to Norbert if they hadn't been so worried about what they had to do. It was a very dark, cloudy night, and they were a bit late arriving at Hagrid's hut because they'd had to wait for Peeves to get out of their way in the entrance hall, where he'd been playing tennis against the wall.

Hagrid had Norbert packed and ready in a large crate.

"He's got lots o' rats an' some brandy fer the journey," said Hagrid in a muffled voice."An' I've packed his teddy bear in case he gets lonely."

From inside the crate came ripping noises that sounded to Aileen as though the teddy was having his head torn off. Aileen gently knelt in front of the cage and saw that Norbert was very agitated about being enclosed and unable to spread his wings.

" _It's alright Norbert, you'll be out of there in no time_." She murmured softly, gently reaching into the cage and stroking the dragons head. Norbert purred softly. Over the last few days Aileen had learned that Norbert, a relative of the snake, could understand her when she used the snake tongue. She also got the impression, that when Norbert was older, he would also be able to communicate with her like a snake does.

"Bye-bye, Norbert!" Hagrid sobbed, "Mommy will never forget you!"

Once Norbert had fallen into a light dose Aileen and Hermione covered the crate with the invisibility cloak and stepped underneath it themselves.

How they managed to get the crate back up to the castle, they never knew. Midnight ticked nearer as they heaved Norbert up the marble staircase in the entrance hall and along the dark corridors. Up another staircase, then another – Aileen used as many shortcuts as she possible could to make their journey easier.

"Nearly there!" Hermione panted as they reached the corridor beneath the tallest tower.

They stopped and shrank back into the shadows, when movement in front of them caught their attention. They waited with baited breaths as two figures grappled with each other before a lamp flared. The light revealed that Professor McGonagall was stood there in her bathrobe, holding Malfoy by the ear ash she glared down at the Slytherin.

"Detention!" she shouted. "And twenty points from Slytherin! Wandering around in the middle of the night, how dare you-"

"You don't understand, Professor. Potter's coming — she's got a dragon!"

"What utter rubbish! How dare you tell such lies! Come on—I shall see Professor Snape about you, Malfoy!"

Once they were out of side, Aileen and Hermione continued up the steep spiral staircase to the tower. Aileen was somewhat grateful that Malfoy had been hiding at the bottom, because if McGonagall had caught him on the staircase that there would have been nowhere for them to hid. When they reached the top of the staircase, Aileen removed the clock and made sure Norbert was okay.

Hermione did a sort of happy jig. "Malfoy's got detention! I could sing!"

"Don't,"Aileen advised her, the chances that Professor McGonagall would hear were too high.

Chuckling about Malfoy, they waited, Aileen gentle stroking Norbert through the bars of the crate since he had woken up. About ten minutes later, four broomsticks came swooping down out of the darkness.

Charlie _'s_ friends were a cheery lot. They showed Aileen and Hermione the harness they'd rigged up, so they could suspend Norbert between them. They all helped buckle Norbert safely into it and then Aileen and Hermione shook hands with the others and thanked them very much.

At last, Norbert was going… going… _gone_.

They slipped back down the spiral staircase. As they stepped into the corridor, Filch's face loomed suddenly out of the darkness.

"Well, well, well," he whispered, "we are in trouble."

They'd left the Invisibility Cloak on top of the tower…..

Filch took them down to Professor McGonagall's office on the first floor, where they sat and waited without saying a word to each other. Hermione was trembling prompting Aileen reached over and gently place a hand on her shoulder.

Had Aileen thought that things couldn't have been worse? She was wrong. When Professor McGonagall appeared, she was leading Neville who was stark white and looked terrified. Before the other boy could say anything Aileen jumped from her seat and rushed to the boy's side and pulled him into a hug.

"Follow my lead." She whispered almost silently in his ear.

"Thank the gods you're alright. The last time you weren't in the common room before curfew Malfoy had attacked you. Are you alright? What happened? Did you get lost? Why didn't you come back before curfew? Hermione said you were in the library, but when we looked we couldn't find you? Anything could have…." Aileen continued louder so that McGonagall and Hermione could hear what she was saying. To cement her plan Aileen scanned Neville with her eyes as though checking for injury.

Neville realising what she was doing, cut her of mid-question. "I'm fine, I got caught in a trick step and then took a wrong turn on the way back to the common room. I couldn't see because of how dark it was."

Hermione stood up and joined Aileen in front of Neville, also pulling the boy into a hug briefly. "I'll teach you the light spell." Hermione promised him, grateful that Aileen had decided to take charge and come up with a reasonable reason for them to be out of the common room. Wondering the corridors would probably get them a loss of points and maybe a detention. Harbouring a dragon would likely to get them expelled and arrested.

"Admiral as your intentions were, Miss Potter, Miss Granger, you should not have been outside the common room after curfew." McGonagall said bringing their attention to her.

All of them took a set, Neville in the middle. Hermione and Neville blushed shamefully and bowed their heads, but Aileen refused to back down. She was helping a friend and if that meant breaking a few school rules then so be it (although McGonagall didn't need to know which friend…).

"Knowing my friend is safe is far more important to me then school rules, ma'am." Aileen said and technically she was no longer lying, she was making sure her friend was safe from being imprisoned.

"Then you should have told a prefect that Mr Longbottom had not made it to the common room and you were concerned for his safety. All three of you will receive detentions — yes, you too, Mr. Longbottom, nothing gives you the right to walk around school at night, especially these days, it's very dangerous — and fifty points will be taken from Gryffindor, each."

"Which valid dates my reason for being out of the common room." Aileen snapped, annoyed at their head of house who was meant to be fair. "Why are you giving Neville a detention for being out after curfew? It's not his fault that he got caught in a trick staircase. And if me and Hermione had not been caught looking for him, would you have gone looking for other students? You're dressed in your night cloths and if you were patrolling the corridors you would be dressed normally. Which means the noise of someone wondering the corridors woke you. Neville has not broken any rules ma'am." Aileen was furious.

Neville had left the common room after dark to warn them about Malfoy and she was punishing him (well she assumed that was the reason Neville had left the common room. He had no reason do so otherwise and he had looked relieved to see them in the office). The cover story she gave was purposefully made so that Neville did not get in trouble.

"You're right," McGonagall admitted after a moment of tense silence. "I was not on patrol tonight, and it was the sound of Mr Malfoy sneaking around that woke me. He also has detention and twenty points taken from Slytherin."

"Then why are you taking fifty from us? If you are going to give out punishments at least make the punishments the same for the same violation. And I would still like to know what Neville has done to earn a detention and loss of house points?" Aileen said not backing down.

McGonagall narrowed her eyes but then sighed. "You are right, Miss Potter. Mr Longbottom will not be punished, however yourself and Miss Granger will be. You will both join Mr Malfoy in detention and loss twenty points, each from Gryffindor."

"Thank you ma'am." Aileen nodded her head in understanding.

Hermione and Neville were both staring at her wide eyed. They had never seen her talk back to a teacher before, especially not their head of house.

"Now I will escort all three of you back to your common room." She said standing up.

Forty points lost. That put Gryffindor in third place. In one night, they'd ruined any chance Gryffindor had had for the house cup (Gryffindor house wasn't renowned for abiding by the rules and with that drop from first to third they had no chance of catching up between now and the end of term).Students were bound to hate them for losing the lead _._

At first, Gryffindors passing the giant hourglasses that recorded the house points the next day thought there'd been a mistake. How could they suddenly have a one hundred points fewer than yesterday? It seemed the twins and Lea Jordon had pulled a prank early that morning loosing sixty points.

And then the story started to spread: Aileen Potter, the famous Aileen Potter, their hero (much to Aileen's amusement they used the masculine term) of two Quidditch matches, had lost them all those points, her and a couple of other stupid first years (they blamed Fred, George and Lee's loss of points on them as well because, apparently 'they would not have lost those points if you hadn't already gone and left the common room').

From being one of the most popular and admired people at the school, Aileen was suddenly the most hated. Even Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs turned on her, because everyone had been longing to see Slytherin lose the house cup. Everywhere Aileen went, people pointed and didn't trouble to lower their voices as they insulted her. Slytherins, on the other hand, clapped as she walked past them, whistling and cheering, "Thanks Potter, we owe you one!"

Only Ron, Neville, Hermione, Fred and George stood by her.

Quidditch became worse than her potions lessons _,_ the rest of the team wouldn't speak to Aileen during practice, and if they had to speak about her, they called her "the Seeker." Fred and George tried to help but Oliver normally had them doing something else so they could not defend her.

Hermione and Neville were suffering, too. They didn't have as bad a time as Aileen, because they weren't as well-known, but nobody would speak to them, either. Hermione had stopped drawing attention to herself in class, keeping her head down and working in silence. This meant that the twenty points she lost would not be earned back because she was no longer participating in class like she used to. Neville became more quiet and withdrawn _._

However things got better for the three of them about a week after the loss of house points.

Aileen had walked into the common room with her arms full of books for revision to see some of the older students crowded round Hermione, Neville and Ron. The rest of the common room was either ignoring what was happening or taking part. Fred and George were not there since they were serving detention and she couldn't spot Percy (the three most likely people to step in and defend them from bullies).

"You thought you were so high and mighty, breaking the school rules?" the one who appeared to be the leader sneered. Aileen recognised him as George Randel, a seventh year. "Thought it would prove your aren't a coward?" He continued sneering mockingly at Neville who was hunched in on himself.

"That you weren't just a know-it-all-bookworm." Another sneered at Hermione.

"And you probably would have joined them too, if you weren't stupid enough to get yourself landed in the hospital wing." Another added to Ron who was going very red faced.

Aileen didn't let it go any further. "What the hell do you think you are doing?" Aileen demanded coldly, her voice cutting through all the sound in the common room like a knife through butter. The group surrounding her friends turned to face her.

"Oh, if it isn't the leader of the looser brigade." George Randel sneered causing the others to laugh.

"ENOUGH" Aileen's cold, emotionless voice cut threw their laughter at the same moment Fred, George and Percy entered the common room. "Insult me all you want, call me whatever you want, but never insult, degrade, belittle or even sneer at my friends." Aileen took a step closer to the group that had been bullying her friends. Her magic was beginning to swirl around her. "You treat them like scum for losing points then let me explain the real reason why you are insulting them. You're insult them for being true Gryffindor's."

One of the group opened their mouth to interrupt but Aileen just ploughed ahead. "Many times Neville has faced the bullying of the Slytherin house so when he didn't return to the common room me and Hermione got worried. One of our friends was already in the hospital wing after being poisoned, we didn't want to see that become two. So we went looking for him. Flitch found us first and took us to McGonagall. Because McGonagall had heard Malfoy out in the corridors she did a search of the nearby corridors and found Neville. All three of us were taken to her office were she attempted to give the three of us detention and a loss of fifty points each." Aileen's glare had not lessened through her speech and nor had her voice become any less frosty.

"But I wouldn't allowed that. By the time we left McGonagall's office, Neville was not punished, because he did nothing wrong and me and Hermione lost twenty points each for HELPING OUR FRIEND. Which means you've been insulting Neville for doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. You've been insult Ron for being POISION and STANDING UP for his friends. And you're insulting me and Hermione for DOING WHAT IS RIGHT. Gryffindor is the house of the brave, the loyal and the determined. We are meant to stand together and help each other. And you turned your back on four members of this house, treating them worse than the Slytherins are, over something as stupid and superfluous as the house cup."

Aileen took a breath to calm her magic and softened her voice. "If I catch any one of you insulting my friends again it will be my wand you face, not my tongue. Am I clear?"

The enter house nodded, including Fred, George and Percy who had not done anything wrong. They made a mental note to never piss her off. They had already heard that Aileen had argued with McGonagall about their punishment, but that was nothing compared to seeing here take down their entire house. A first year, shaming seventh years. It was a first, and something they would always remember.

Aileen was almost glad that the exams weren't far away. All the studying she had to do kept her mind off everything was starting to annoy her. She didn't mind reading a good book, but most of the books associated with her lessons were boring and she already knew the information. She, Ron, Neville and Hermione kept to themselves, working late into the night, trying to remember the ingredients in complicated potions, learn charms and spells by heart, memorize the dates of magical discoveries and goblin rebellions…

Since Aileen's talk down with their house they saw no reason to forgive them. The Quidditch team had about faced, but Aileen only spoke with them because she had too. They still had a lot of making up to do for turning their backs on her like that. Fred and George had also taken to pranking members of their house – specifically the most vocal ones – and Percy simply turned a blind eye to it since he also disagreed with what they had done.

Aileen had made a resolution to not interfere in something that didn't concern her, however a week before the exams her internal resolve was put under and unexpected test. Aileen had been heading back to the library, having gone to ask Flitwick a question, when she heard a whimper from a classroom. Wondering if there was someone crying in the classroom, Aileen moved closer only to hear Quirrell's voice.

"No — no — not again, please —" Quirrell's voice begged. Aileen frowned, it sounded like someone had been causing him pain and he was begging for them not to do it again.

"All right — all right —" Quirrell sobbed as though in response to someone else saying something but she didn't hear what had been asked.

Quirrell came hurrying out of the classroom while straightening his turban. He was paler then Aileen had ever seen him and his eyes were red lined like he had just, or was about to, cry. Quirrell was in such a hurry to get away from the classroom that he didn't even noticed Aileen standing there.

Once she was sure Quirrell's footsteps had faded away, she peered into the abandoned classroom. It was empty, but a door stood ajar at the other end. Perhaps that was where the person Quirrell was working for had gone.

Aileen went back to the library, where Hermione was testing Ron on Astronomy (Neville was down in the greenhouse helping out Professor Sprout). Aileen told them what she'd heard.

"Snape's done it, then!" said Ron. "If Quirrell's told him how to break his Anti-Dark Force spell —"

"There's still Fluffy, though," Hermione reminded him.

"Maybe Snape's found out how to get past him without asking Hagrid," said Ron, looking up at the thousands of books surrounding them. "I bet there's a book somewhere in here telling you how to get past a giant three-headed dog. So what do we do, Aileen?"

The light of adventure was kindling again in Ron's eyes, but Hermione answered before Aileen could.

"Go to Dumbledore. That's what we should have done ages ago. If we try anything ourselves we'll be thrown out for sure." Hermione answered. Her belief in authority was something that confused Aileen, who had never come across an adult that she could trust because they kept turning their backs on her. Only her father had stayed by her, and even then she still held some resentment because although he was a god, he had abandoned her and left her without contact for years.

"But we've got no proof!" Aileen pointed out. She had learnt early on that unless you had undisputable proof, an adult wouldn't listen and even they would sometimes turn a blind eye. "Quirrell's too scared to back us up. Snape's only got to say he doesn't know how the troll got in at Halloween and that he was nowhere near the third floor; and it's easy enough to prove that he couldn't have let the troll in that night since he was in the Great Hall — who do you think they'll believe, him or us?" Aileen pointed out. She chose not to argue the point about who they thought was stealing the stone, and instead shoot down their arguments in regards to Professor Snape. "It's not exactly a secret we hate him, Dumbledore'll think we made it up to get him wouldn't help us if his life depended on it, he's too friendly with Snape, and the more students get thrown out, the better, he'll think. And don't forget, we're not supposed to know about the Stone or Fluffy. That'll take a lot of explaining."

Hermione looked convinced, but Ron didn't.

"If we just do a bit of poking around —"

"No," said Aileen flatly, "we've done enough poking around."

She pulled a map of Jupiter toward her and started to learn the names of its moons. Her friend's had already been endangered enough for one year and she would try her best to protect them if they were placed in a position to act by the end of the year.

The following morning, notes were delivered to Aileenand Hermione, at the breakfast table. They were all the same:

Your detention will take place at eleven o'clock tonight.

Meet Mr. Filch in the entrance hall.

Professor McGonagall

At eleven o'clock that night, they said good-bye to Ron in the common room and went down to the entrance hall. Filch was already there — and so was Malfoy and a first year Hufflepuff Aileen recognised a Susan Bones. Aileen had forgotten that Malfoy had gotten a detention, found it hypercritical that they were sending the three students caught out after hours to serve a detention after hours.

"Follow me," said Filch, lighting a lamp and leading them outside.

"I bet you'll think twice about breaking a school rule again, won't you, eh?" he said, leering at them. "Oh yes… hard work and pain are the best teachers if you ask me… It's just a pity they let the old punishments die out… hang you by your wrists from the ceiling for a few days, I've got the chains still in my office, keep 'em well oiled in case they're ever needed… Right, off we go, and don't think of running off, now, it'll be worse for you if you do."

Aileen just kept on frowning. They were not only serving their detention after curfew, but apparently outside. That was a minimum of two school rules they were breaking already during their cause of their detention. And from the way that Filch was going on, their detention probably wasn't going to be pleasant. There were few things that they could do during this time of night, and most of them involved the student's breaking even more school rules.

"Is that you, Filch? Hurry up, I want ter get started." Hagrid's voice easily travelled across the grounds to the group.

Aileen relaxed slightly. If they were serving their detention with Hagrid then it can't be too bad. There was very little on the grounds of Hogwarts's that would try and harm Hagrid, and so they should be safe even if they were going where she feared – into the forest. However, the relief must had come across on her face because Filch spoke in his nasally voice:

"I suppose you think you'll be enjoying yourself with that oaf? Well, think again, girlie — it's into the forest you're going."

At this Malfoy stopped dead in his tracks while Hermione stepped closer to Aileen for comfort. Aileen noticed that Susan had paled drastically so she reached forward and placed a comforting hand on her arm as well. It wasn't the Hufflepuff's fault that she ended up in detention with their group (which was probably the reason why they had this detention instead of scrubbing cauldrons or the trophy room).

"The forest?" Malfoy repeated, and he didn't sound quite as cool as usual. "We can't go in there at night — there's all sorts of things in there — werewolves, I heard."

"It's not a fall moon," Aileen said softly trying to get everyone to calm down a bit since they had jerked in fright at the prospect of their being a werewolf in the forest. "There will be no werewolves in this forest tonight."

Hagrid came striding toward them out of the dark with Fang at his heel. He was carrying his large crossbow, and a quiver of arrows hung over his shoulder.

"Abou' time," he said. "I bin waitin' fer half an hour already. All right, Aileen, Hermione?"

"I shouldn't be too friendly to them, Hagrid," said Filch coldly, "they're here to be punished, after all."

"That's why yer late, is it?" said Hagrid, frowning at Filch. "Bin lecturin' them, eh? 'Snot your place ter do that. Yeh've done yer bit, I'll take over from here."

"I'll be back at dawn," said Filch, "for what's left of them," he added nastily, and he turned and started back toward the castle, his lamp bobbing away in the darkness.

Aileen frowned again, they were expected spend the entire night in the forest. It was a school night, and they wouldn't be getting in till dawn which meant they would have roughly three hours to rest and get ready for their first lesson of the day. Who decided to plan this detention? Whoever they were obviously didn't think it through.

Malfoy now turned to Hagrid. "I'm not going in that forest," he said a note of panic in his voice _._

"Yeh are if yeh want ter stay at Hogwarts," said Hagrid fiercely. "Yeh've done wrong an' now yeh've got ter pay fer it."

"But this is servant stuff, it's not for students to do. I thought we'd be copying lines or something, if my father knew I was doing this, he'd—"

"—tell yer that's how it is at Hogwarts," Hagrid growled, being the first teacher to cut the arrogant boy of then he was going off about Malfoy and pureblood superiority. "Copyin' lines! What good's that ter anyone? Yeh'll do summat useful or yeh'll get out. If yeh think yer father'd rather you were expelled, then get back off ter the castle an' pack. Go on."

Malfoy didn't move. He looked at Hagrid furiously, but then dropped his gaze.

"Right then," said Hagrid, "now, listen carefully, 'cause it's dangerous what we're gonna do tonight, an' I don' want no one takin' risks. Follow me over here a moment."

He led them to the very edge of the forest. Holding his lamp up high, he pointed down a narrow, winding earth track that disappeared into the thick black trees. A light breeze lifted their hair as they looked into the forest.

"Look there," said Hagrid, "see that stuff shinin' on the ground? Silvery stuff? That's unicorn blood. There's a unicorn in there bin hurt badly by summat. This is the second time in a week. I found one dead last Wednesday. We're gonna try an' find the poor thing. We might have ter put it out of its misery."

"And what if whatever hurt the unicorn finds us first?" said Malfoy, unable to keep the fear out of his voice even if he had tried. In this instance, Aileen didn't blame him.

"There's nothin' that lives in the forest that'll hurt yeh if yer with me or Fang," said Hagrid. "An' keep ter the path. Right, now, we're gonna split inter two parties an' follow the trail in diff'rent directions. There's blood all over the place, it must've bin staggerin' around since last night at least."

"I want Fang," said Malfoy quickly, looking at Fang's long teeth.

"All right, but I warn yeh, he's a coward," said Hagrid. "So me, Aileen, an' Hermione'll go one way an' Draco, an' Susan, an' Fang'll go the other. Now, if any of us finds the unicorn, we'll send up green sparks, right? Get yer wands out an' practice now — that's it — an' if anyone gets in trouble, send up red sparks, an' we'll all come an' find yeh — so, be careful — let's go."

The forest was black and silent. A little way into it they reached a fork in the earth path, and Aileen, Hermione, and Hagrid took the left path while Malfoy, Susan and Fang took the right.

They walked in silence, their eyes on the ground. Every now and then a ray of moonlight through the branches above lit a spot of silver-blue blood on the fallen leaves. Aileen saw that Hagrid looked very worried.

"What could be killing the unicorns?" Aileen asked, breaking the tense silence.

"Not a lot of animals are fast enough," Hagrid explained. "It's not easy ter catch a unicorn, they're powerful magic creatures. I never knew one ter be hurt before."

They walked past a mossy tree stump. Aileen could hear running water; there must be a stream somewhere close by. She was somewhat reassured by this. Although she didn't have complete control of it, she had been getting better at her water manipulation. Which meant if she couldn't defend herself with magic or sword, she could defend herself with water. And if that failed, she could always heal herself using it.

There were still spots of unicorn blood here and there along the winding path they were walking but it wasn't getting thicker or more common. The blood was also started to look a bit tacky, like it was drying up. Aileen didn't dare touch it to see how old the blood was since she didn't know how to explain that to Hagrid or Hermione and the properties of unicorn blood could be different to that of human blood and so her guess may be inaccurate anyway.

"You all right, Hermione?" Hagrid whispered. "Don' worry, it can't've gone far if it's this badly hurt, an' then we'll be able ter — GET BEHIND THAT TREE!"

Before they had the chance to follow his order, Hagrid had hoisted the two of them off the path and hid them behind an old oak tree. Hagrid pulled an arrow from his back and notched it in the crossbow, raising it, ready to fire encase the noise he had heard belonged to a threat. Aileen drew her wand, holding it steady at her side while Hermione shakily drew hers even if she didn't know any useful defence spells.

The three of them listened carefully to the noises around them. Something was slithering over dead leaves nearby: it sounded like a cloak trailing along the ground. Hagrid was squinting up the dark path, but after a few seconds, the sound faded away.

"I knew it," he murmured. "There's summat in here that shouldn' be. Right, follow me, but careful, now."said Hagrid grimly. He didn't make a move to disarm himself, so Aileen kept her wand in her hand. However, Hermione – not used to being in dangerous situations – but her wand away.

They walked more slowly, ears straining for the faintest sound. Suddenly, in a clearing ahead, something definitely moved.

"Who's there?" Hagrid called. "Show yerself — I'm armed!"

And into the clearing came — was it a man, or a horse? To the waist, a man, with red hair and beard, but below that was a horse's gleaming chestnut body with a long, reddish tail. Hermione's jaws dropped.

"Oh, it's you, Ronan," said Hagrid in relief. "How are yeh?"

He walked forward and shook the centaur's hand.

"Good evening to you, Hagrid," said Ronan. He had a deep, sorrowful voice. "Were you going to shoot me?"

"Can't be too careful, Ronan," said Hagrid, patting his crossbow. "There's summat bad loose in this forest. This is Aileen Potter an' Hermione Granger, by the way. Students up at the school. An' this is Ronan, you two. He's a centaur.

"We've noticed," said Hermione faintly.

"Good evening," said Ronan. "Students, are you? And do you learn much, up at the school?"

"A bit," said Hermione timidly.

"A bit. Well, that's something." Ronan sighed. He flung back his head and stared at the sky. "Mars is bright tonight."

Aileen paled rapidly as she looked up at the sky her eyes searching for the red planet. But without a telescope to enhance her vision the sky was a blur to her with the occasional undisguisable clump of light.

"Yeah," said Hagrid, glancing up, too. "Listen, I'm glad we've run inter yeh, Ronan, 'cause there's a unicorn bin hurt — you seen anythin'?"

Ronan didn't answer immediately. He stared unblinkingly upward, then sighed again. "Always the innocent are the first victims," he said. "So it has been for ages past, so it is now."

Aileen's eyes narrowed at that as she continued looking up at the stars. She remembered reading about Mars and its link to war when she was in primary school, the Greek God of War, Aries, was always linked with Mars (his Roman name). And innocents always died first in wars. They are always the most effected. Did Ronan mean that there was a war coming? That an innocent, a child perhaps, was going to die? Aileen wasn't sure if she wanted to know the answer to that.

"Yeah," said Hagrid, "but have yeh seen anythin' Ronan? Anythin' unusual?"

"Mars is bright tonight," Ronan repeated, while Hagrid watched him impatiently. "Unusually bright."

"Yeah, but I was meanin' anythin' unusual a bit nearer home," said Hagrid. "So yeh haven't noticed anythin' strange?"

Yet again, Ronan took a while to answer. At last, he said, "The forest hides many secrets." A movement in the trees behind Ronan made Hagrid raise his bow again, but it was only a second centaur, black-haired and bodied and wilder-looking than Ronan.

"Hullo, Bane," said Hagrid. "All right?"

"Good evening, Hagrid, I hope you are well?" the centaur answered, but he had an almost disdainful look in his eyes when he realised that Hagrid wasn't alone.

"Well enough. Look, I've jus' bin askin' Ronan, you seen anythin' odd in here lately? There's a unicorn bin injured — would yeh know anythin' about it?"

Bane walked over to stand next to Ronan. He looked skyward. "Mars is bright tonight," he said simply.

"We've heard," said Hagrid grumpily. "Well, if either of you do see anythin', let me know, won't yeh? We'll be off, then."

Aileen and Hermione followed Hagrid from the clearing. Hagrid was frowning, clearly irritated with the lack of information that they had obtained from the centaurs and their insistence to talk about mars.

"Never," said Hagrid irritably, "try an' get a straight answer out of a centaur. Ruddy stargazers. Not interested in anythin' closer'n the moon."

"Are there many of them in here?" Hermione asked to distract herself from their surroundings.

"Oh, a fair few… Keep themselves to themselves mostly, but they're good enough about turnin' up if ever I want a word. They're deep, mind, centaurs… they know things… jus' don' let on much."

They walked on through the dense, dark trees. Aileen kept looking nervously over her shoulder. She had the nasty feeling they were being watched. She was very glad they had Hagrid and his crossbow with them. They had just passed a bend in the path when Hermione grabbed Hagrid's arm.

"Hagrid! Look! Red sparks, the others are in trouble!"

"You two wait here!" Hagrid shouted. "Stay on the path, I'll come back for yeh!"

They heard him crashing away through the undergrowth and stood looking at each other, very scared, until they couldn't hear anything but the rustling of leaves around them.

"You don't think they've been hurt, do you?" whispered Hermione.

"I hope not."

The minutes dragged by. Their ears seemed sharper than usual. Aileen's seemed to be picking up every sigh of the wind, every cracking twig. What was going on? Where were the others? When Hermione started shaking Aileen drew her into a hug, her body stiff from the contact, but offering as much comfort to her friend as she could. Her eyes scanned the tree line in a constant motion, as she continued listening.

At last, a great crunching noise announced Hagrid's return. Malfoy, Susan, and Fang were with him. Hagrid was fuming. Malfoy, it seemed, had sneaked up behind Susan and grabbed her as a joke. Susan had panicked and sent up the sparks. Aileen, who had stopped hugging Hermione when Hagrid had returned, placed a calming and reassuring hand on Susan's arm and smiled softly at her to let her know that it was alright. Aileen had learnt early on that when she comforted others she could push her own emotions to the back of her mind for a short period of time – they were more important than her.

"We'll be lucky ter catch anythin' now, with the racket you two were makin'. Right, we're changin' groups — Susan, you stay with me an' Hermione, Aileen, you go with Fang an' this idiot. I'm sorry," Hagrid added in a whisper to Aileen, "but he'll have a harder time frightenin' you, an' we've gotta get this done."

So Aileen set off into the heart of the forest with Malfoy and Fang. They walked for nearly half an hour, deeper and deeper into the forest, until the path became almost impossible to follow because the trees were so thick. Aileen crouched down next to a puddle of blood. They were getting thicker and appearing at more constant intervals then before. There were splashes on the roots of a tree, as though the poor creature had been thrashing around in pain close by. Aileen could see a clearing ahead, through the tangled branches of an ancient oak.

"Look —" she murmured, holding out her arm to stop Malfoy from her crouched position.

Something bright white was gleaming on the ground. They got closer, Aileen making sure they stayed low so as to not alert anyone to their presence.

It was the unicorn all right, and it was dead. Aileen had never seen anything so beautiful and sad. Its long, slender legs were stuck out at odd angles where it had fallen and its mane was spread pearly-white on the dark leaves.

Aileen had taken one step toward it when a slithering sound made her freeze where she crouched. A bush on the edge of the clearing quivered… Then, out of the shadows, a hooded figure came crawling across the ground like some stalking beast. Aileen, Malfoy, and Fang stood transfixed. The cloaked figure reached the unicorn, lowered its head over the wound in the animal's side, and began to drink its blood.

"AAAAAAAAAARGH!"

Malfoy let out a terrible scream and bolted — so did Fang. The hooded figure raised its head and looked right at Aileen —unicorn blood was dribbling down its front. It got to its feet and came swiftly toward Aileen who stood straight, drawing her wand. It was terrible crime to drink the blood of a unicorn and she would not let this creature get Malfoy not matter what she thought of the arrogant sod.

Then a pain pierced her head; it was as though her scar were on fire. Half blinded, she raised her wand and cast the first spell that came to her head:

"Confringo!" she shouted.

The thing lifted its arm and a blue shield appeared. However it underestimated the power of her curse that she had cast in pain and desperation, and it was sent flying back a few steps. Aileen was shocked – it was a man drinking the blood of the unicorn otherwise they would not have been able to cast the shield spell.

Then the man started advancing on her once more but she heard hooves behind her, galloping and something jumped clean over Aileen, charging at the figure which fled.

Aileen took a deep breath and closed her eyes, allowing the pain in her scar to recede. When she opened her eyes she saw a centaur was standing over her, not Ronan or Bane; this one looked younger; he had white-blond hair and a palomino body.

"Are you all right?" the centaur asked in concern.

"Yes, thanks to you. Who was that thing?"

The centaur didn't answer. He had astonishingly blue eyes, like pale sapphires. He looked carefully at Aileen, his eyes lingering on the scar that now stood out, livid, on Aileen's forehead.

"You are the Potter girl," he said. "You had better get back to Hagrid. The forest is not safe at this time — especially for you. Can you ride? It will be quicker this way. My name is Firenze," he added, as he lowered himself on to his front legs so that Aileen could clamber carefullyonto his back.

There was suddenly a sound of more galloping from the other side of the clearing. Ronan and Bane came bursting through the trees, their flanks heaving and sweaty.

"Firenze!" Bane thundered. "What are you doing? You have a human on your back! Have you no shame? Are you a common mule?"

"Do you realize who this is?" Firenze demanded in turn. He didn't sound as angry as Bane, but he still managed to carry an air of authority about him. "This is the Potter girl. The quicker she leaves this forest, the better."

"What have you been telling her?" growled Bane. "Remember, Firenze, we are sworn not to set ourselves against the heavens. Have we not read what is to come in the movements of the planets?"

Ronan pawed the ground nervously. "I'm sure Firenze thought he was acting for the best," he said in his gloomy voice.

Bane kicked his back legs in anger. "For the best! What is that to do with us? Centaurs are concerned with what has been foretold! It is not our business to run around like donkeys after stray humans in our forest!"

"Then your purpose has been lost." Aileen said from Firenze's back before he could respond. "You once stood strong by the side of demi-gods and humans, defending this world. Now you stand in this forest that has grown dark saying you will not lend aid to the humans that you were once allied with. Have you truly forgotten your history? Your origins?" Aileen demanded of them.

"You dare presume to know us human?" Bane demanded furiously.

Firenze suddenly reared on to his hind legs in anger, so that Aileen had to grab his quiver tightlyto stay on.

"Do you not see that unicorn?" Firenze bellowed at Bane. "Do you not understand why it was killed? Or have the planets not let you in on that secret?" Firenze asked almost mockingly. "I set myself against what is lurking in this forest, Bane, yes, with humans alongside me if I must."

And Firenze whisked around; with Aileenholdingon as best she could without hurting Firenze, they plunged off into the trees, leaving Ronan and Bane behind them.

After a while Firenze slowed to a walk, warning Aileen to keep her head bowed in case of low-hanging branches. They made their way through the trees in silence. They were passing through a particularly dense patch of trees, however, when Firenze suddenly stopped.

"Aileen Potter, do you know what unicorn blood is used for?"

"It can bring someone back from the brink of death." Aileen answered.

"It is a monstrous thing, to slay a unicorn," Firenze agreed. "The blood of a unicorn will keep you alive, even if you are an inch from death, but at a terrible price. You have slain something pure and defenceless to save yourself, and you will have but a half-life, a cursed life, from the moment the blood touches your lips."

"Who'd be that desperate?" Aileen wondered aloud. "If you're going to be cursed forever, death's better, isn't it?"

"It is," Firenze agreed, "unless all you need is to stay alive long enough to drink something else — something that will bring you back to full strength and power — something that will mean you can never die. Miss. Potter, do you know what is hidden in the school at this very moment?"

"The Philosopher's Stone! Of course — the Elixir of Life! But I don't understand who —" but she had a horrible feeling that she did in fact now who it was.

"Can you think of nobody who has waited many years to return to power, who has clung to life, awaiting their chance?"

"Voldemort lives,"Aileen whispered, her throat seemed thick with fear. Most of the world believed the dark lord to be dead, but Hagrid had said that first time they meet, that he had thought the man weak and in hiding. Bidding his chance. It seemed as though Voldemort was finally coming out of hiding in order to get his hands on something that would return his strength to him.

"Aileen! Aileen, are you all right?"Hermione was running toward them down the path, Hagrid puffing along behind her.

"I'm fine," said Aileen, gently jumping from Firenze's back. "The unicorn's dead, Hagrid, it's in that clearing back there."

"This is where I leave you," Firenze murmured as Hagrid hurried off to examine the unicorn. "You are safe luck, Aileen Potter," said Firenze. "The planets have been read wrongly before now, even by centaurs. I hope this is one of those times."

He turned and cantered back into the depths of the forest, leaving Aileen looking afterhim.

From the looks Hermione was sending her on the way back to the common room she knew that she was worried by her silence despite the fact that she did not say much anyway _._

Word count: 15,005

Copied: 5,486

Edited: 03/08/2017


	9. Chapter 9: The end of of year 1 Edited

Okay, lets start with: I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER. I'm just happily playing in JK's sand box. I DON'T OWN PERCY JACKSON either. I'm only allowed to play on the swing sets (pouts).

So, the next thing on my list of things to put on the top of this story: I've used a lot of the book structure of the first four years. By this I mean Aileen will be face a troll, save a dragon, go down the third floor, be blamed for opening the chamber, reveal her parseltongue abilities in the dueling club, save Ginny and kill the basilisk, and confront Sirius at the end of third year. Aileen will also be entered into the goblet, however she will be complete the tasks completely differently to Harry. If you don't like stories that do this then this isn't the story for you. Although I divert most majorly from the story line after book four, there are points through the first four years were Aileen dose something that Harry would never do because that is the way I've portrayed my character.

And finally, I have heavily edited the first twenty four chapters. You need to re-read the entire story to understand what happens after that point because it all ties together. By heavily edited, I mean nearly 40% of my story has completely been re-written. There is better characterization, more realistic sword skills and a little bit more on the emotional explanation of my character.

* * *

Chapter 9: Year one: Voldemort and Courage

Aileen wasn't quite sure how she managed to sit through her exams when she half expected Voldemort to be returning to his full strength. This distraction on top of her Dyslexia, poor eyesight and ADHD, meant it was a surprised she managed to sit through each exam.

But the days, and exams, crept by and Fluffy remained alive and well behind his locked door on the third floor. Apollo was at full strength, as it was sweltering hot during the days as they sat in the large classroom assigned for exams (the great hall was used for the OWL and NEWT students).

They weren't allowed to use their own quills for the exams, instead they were given one that had been bewitched with anti-cheating spells. According to Fred and George – who had a student in their year who tried cheating – it took whatever the student did to cheat and turned it on them. The student in their year had written the answers with invisible ink on his arm, and so his answers were invisible to everyone but himself.

After the written exams, there were the practical parts of the exams.

Professor Flitwick called them one by one into his class to see if they could make a pineapple tap dance across a desk. Aileen still wasn't sure why they needed to know that charm, the wand movements weren't even precise. She figured that Flitwick was looking for something specific during their exam – perhaps it was control? – but his reasoning wasn't known to the students.

Professor McGonagall watched them turn a mouse into a snuffbox — points were given for how pretty the snuffbox was, but taken away if it had whiskers or other mouse like traits. This exam at least made since, since McGonagall was testing the student's visualisation and control, which would be very important as they advanced through the years in transfiguration.

Snape made them all nervous, breathing down their necks while they tried to remember how to make a Forgetfulness potion (which Aileen was sure he did on purpose).Aileen was sure that she got most of the potion right, although it may have been a bit to running because she couldn't remember how many times she needed to stir it. However, her potion came out a lot better than Ron's which was the wrong colour and consistence.

Aileen did the best she could, trying to ignore the stabbing pains in her forehead, which had been bothering her ever since her trip into the forest. Neville thought Aileen had a bad case of exam nerves because Aileen couldn't sleep (Hermione had discussed her worry about Aileen's sleeping habits with Ron and Neville in the hopes that one of them might have a way of helping) but the truth was that Aileen kept being woken by her old nightmare, except that it was now worse than ever because there was a hooded figure dripping blood in it as well as the snake face that actually belonged to Voldemort the night he murdered her spent most nights sat on the windowsill in the common room reading through her notes just so she did not wake up during the night to vomit what she had eaten the day before because she needed to get her energy from somewhere.

Maybe it was because they hadn't seen what Aileen had seen in the forest, or because they didn't have scars burning on their foreheads, but Ron, Neville and Hermione didn't seem as worried about the Stone as Aileen. The idea of Voldemort certainly scared them, but he didn't keep visiting them in dreams, and they were so busy with their studying they didn't have much time to fret about what anyone else might be up to.

It was a stark reminder as to how much more mature she was compared to her had been ignoring the fact that she felt older than her friend's during the school year, because Hermione regularly showed maturity when talking about her work, but now that differences in their childhoods was really starting to show itself in the way they responded to the situations and knowledge of life.

Their very last exam of the year was History of Magic. One hour of answering questions about batty old wizards who'd invented self-stirring cauldrons and they'd be free, free for a whole wonderful week until their exam results came out. Aileen was glad she had read more history texts books then the one they were given on their book list since Binns only went on about Goblin Rebellions and that was the only thing in the book he quoted from _._ The exam, however only had five questions on the Goblin Rebellions, the rest was on wizarding history.

When the ghost of Professor Binns told them to put down their quills and roll up their parchment, Aileen couldn't help cheering with the rest even if she did not jump up on the table and do a jig like Seamus.

"That was far easier than I thought it would be," said Hermione as they joined the crowds flocking out onto the sunny grounds. "I needn't have learned about the 1637 Werewolf Code of Conduct or the uprising of Elfric the Eager."

Hermione always tried to talk about her exams after finishing, but Ron made a comment about how it made him feel ill, because he normally hadn't written the same answer to whatever question Hermione was talking about. So Aileen generally distracted them. Today, she led them outside since the sun was still shinning and it was pleasantly warm.

They wondered over to their normal tree down by the lake and flopped down. Ron was stretched on the grass with Aileen, while Hermione sat against the trunk of the tree. From her place on the slight incline, leading down the bank, Aileen could see the twins and Lee tickling the tentacles of the giant squid. It had been floating along the surface of the lack, basking in the warm shallows, but it was now playing some kind of game with the twins by hiding and then trying to reach out and grab them before they could tickle him.

"No more studying," Ron sighed happily, "You could look more cheerful, Aileen, we've got a week before we find out how badly we've done, there's no need to worry yet."

Aileen was rubbing her forehead,another stab of pain having distracted her from the amusing view in front of her.

"I wish I knew what this means!" shesighed in frustration. "My scar keeps hurting — it's happened before, but never as often as this."

"Go to Madam Pomfrey," Hermione suggested, something she should new Aileen would not do unless she was greatly injured because she didn't want anyone finding out about her home life until she knew why she was placed with the Dursleys. It was one of the reasons why she was learning how to heal and use different medicinal herbs outside of potions.

"I'm not ill," saidAileen with conviction. "l think it's a warning…it means danger's coming…" Aileen decided not to mention Voldemort since they were outside and there was a chance of their voices carrying in the wind _._

Ron couldn't get worked up, it was too hot and relieved the exams were over.

"Aileen, relax, Hermione's right, the Stone's safe as long as Dumbledore's around. Anyway, we've never had any proof Snape found out how to get past Fluffy. He nearly had his leg ripped off once, he's not going to try it again in a hurry. And Neville will play Quidditch for England before Hagrid lets Dumbledore down."

Although Aileen agreed that Hagrid wouldn't willingly or knowingly give away that knowledge, there was just that feeling in the pit of her stomach. Like she was forgetting something, something important.

When she tried to explain thisto her friends Hermione dismissed her by reminding her of the time she had woken up and started going through her transfiguration notes despite having already sat that exam. But Aileen knew that wasn't the reason for her unsettled feeling.

She watched an owl flutter toward the school across the bright blue sky, a note clamped in its mouth. Hagrid was the only one who ever sent her letters. Hagrid would never betray Dumbledore. Hagrid would never tell anyone how to get past Fluffy… never… but… Aileen suddenly jumped to her feet.

"Where're you going?" said Ron sleepily.

"I've just thought of something," said Aileen. She had turnedfour shades paler then she normallywas with her sudden realisation. "We've got to go and see Hagrid, now." She took off at a fast sprint.

"Why?" panted Hermione, struggling to keep upsince she didn't have the practise at running that Aileen did.

"Don't you think it's a bit odd," said Aileen not remotely out of breath as she set their pace across the grounds "that what Hagrid wants more than anything else is a dragon, and a stranger turns up who just happens to have an egg in his pocket? How many people wander around with dragon eggs if it's against wizard law? And considering how expensive they are, how many people would willingly give them away over a card game? Lucky they found Hagrid, don't you think? Why didn't I realise this before? I knew there was something suspicious about the guy Hagrid mentioned.'" Aileen growled the last part to herself.

"What are you talking about?" said Ron, but Aileen, sprinting across the grounds toward the forest, didn't answer since they would soon be getting their answers from Hagrid.

Hagrid was sitting in an armchair outside his house; his trousers and sleeves were rolled up, and he was shelling peas into a large bowl.

"Hullo," he said, smiling. "Finished yer exams? Got time fer a drink?"

"Yes, please," said Ron panting after their sprint to Hagrid's hut, but Aileen cut him offnot even slightly winded.

"No sorry, but we're in a hurry. Hagrid, I've got to ask you something. You know that night you won Norbert? What did the stranger you were playing cards with look like?"

"Dunno," said Hagrid casually, "he wouldn' take his cloak off." He saw the three of them look stunned and raised his eyebrows. "It's not that unusual, yeh get a lot o' funny folk in the Hog's Head — that's one of the pubs down in the village. Mighta bin a dragon dealer, mightn' he? I never saw his face, he kept his hood up."

Aileen sank down next to the bowl of peas, shocked that Hagrid would talk to a stranger when he didn't know what they looked like or even their name. And besides, what dragon dealer didn't want money?

"What did you talk to him about, Hagrid? Did you mention Hogwarts at all?" Aileen prayed he hadn't _._

"Mighta come up," said Hagrid, frowning as he tried to remember. "Yeah…he asked what I did, an' I told him I was gamekeeper here…He asked a bit about the sorta creatures I took after…so I told him…an' I said what I'd always really wanted was a dragon…an' then…I can' remember too well, 'cause he kept buyin' me drinks… Let's see…yeah, then he said he had the dragon egg an' we could play cards fer it if I wanted…but he had ter be sure I could handle it, he didn' want it ter go ter any old home…So I told him, after Fluffy, a dragon would be easy…"

"And did he — did he seem interested in Fluffy?" Aileen asked, trying to keep her voice calm even if her panic was mounting.

"Well — yeah — how many three-headed dogs d'yeh meet, even around Hogwarts? So I told him, Fluffy's a piece o' cake if yeh know how to calm him down, jus' play him a bit o' music an' he'll go straight off ter sleep-" Hagrid suddenly looked horrified. "I shouldn'ta told yeh that!" he blurted out. "Forget I said it! Hey — where're yeh goin'?"

Aileen, Ron, and Hermione didn't speak to each other at all until they came to a halt in the entrance hall, which seemed very cold and gloomy after the grounds.

"We've got to go to Dumbledore," said Aileen. "Hagrid told that stranger how to get past Fluffy, and it was either him," Aileen decided not to use names of teachers while inside theschool _,_ "or Voldemort under that cloak — it must've been easy, once he'd got Hagrid drunk. I just hope Dumbledore believes us. Firenze might back us up if Bane doesn't stop him. Where's Dumbledore's office?"

They looked around, as if hoping to see a sign pointing them in the right direction. They had never been told where Dumbledore lived, nor did they know anyone who had been sent to see him – not even the twins.

"We'll just have to —" Aileen began, but a voice suddenly rang across the hall.

"What are you three doing inside?" It was Professor McGonagall, carrying a large pile of books.

"We want to see Professor Dumbledore," said Hermione rather bravely.

"See Professor Dumbledore?" Professor McGonagall repeated, as though this was a very fishy thing to want to do. "Why?"

Aileenswallowed, "It very important, it's well..."she hesitated. "It's sort of secret," she said, but she wished at once she hadn't, because Professor McGonagall's nostrils flared.

"Professor Dumbledore left ten minutes ago," she said coldly. "He received an urgent owl from the Ministry of Magic and flew off for London at once."

"He's gone?" said Aileen frantically. "Now?"

"Professor Dumbledore is a very great wizard, Potter, he has many demands on his time – "

"But this is important." Aileen insisted shocked that the one time they needed Dumbledore the most he was not even on school grounds.

"Something you have to say is more important than the Ministry of Magic, Potter?"

' _Everything's more important than the Ministry of Magic as far as I can tell,'_ Aileen thought viciously. "Look," said Aileen, throwing caution to the winds as, for the first time in a long time, she decided to place trust in an adult,"Professor — it's about the Philosopher's Stone —"

Whatever Professor McGonagall had expected, it wasn't that. The books she was carrying tumbled out of her arms, but she didn't pick them up. "How do you know —?" she spluttered.

"It doesn't matter, right now. Professor, I think —no - I know — that someone's going to try and steal the Stone. I've got to talk to Professor Dumbledore or at least get him to come back to the school before tonight."

McGonagall eyed her with a mixture of shock and suspicionnot seeming to care that they were pleading with her to help protect something that was keeping a man and his wife alive. "Professor Dumbledore will be back tomorrow," she said finally. "I don't know how you found out about the Stone, but rest assured, no one can possibly steal it, it's too well protected."

"But Professor —"Aileen argued for she knew that if they had found a way around the first trap without trying and the person after the stone was involved in setting up the protections, the stone was not protected at all.

"Potter, I know what I'm talking about," she said shortly. She bent down and gathered up the fallen books. "I suggest you all go back outside and enjoy the sunshine."

"LISTEN TO ME!" Aileen finally snapped, grabbing the professor and pulling her into a classroom so that no one could hear what was being said. Ron and Hermione didn't follow, instead they kept a look out in the corridor. They had seen Aileen loose her temper ones before, and Hermione had seen her argue with McGonagall and win "If the three of us could figure out that you need to play music to get past fluffy and that you, Sprout, Flitwick, Quirrell and Snape all set up protections around the stone do you honestly think that a fully trained wizard – probably a member of staff – couldn't have figured that out as well. They have already made one attempt on the stone during the Halloween Feat, why do you think that the troll was let into the school?" Aileen glared at Professor McGonagall absolutely furious.

With her piece said she turned and left the shocked professor in the classroom. Hopefully, her words would have been enough to get the stubborn lion thinking about what has been happening during the year and she would endeavour to alert the headmaster or try and protect the stone. However, she couldn't leave this to chance, she had to come up with a way of ensuring that Quirrell didn't get his hands on the stone, because she didn't want to live in a world which was at war with Voldemort.

"It's tonight," said Aileen said once they had gotten quite a distance away from McGonagall. Her friend's didn't say anything about how she had spoken with McGonagall, recognising that now wasn't the time. "They're going through the trapdoor tonight. He's found out everything he needs, and now he's got Dumbledore out of the way. He sent that note I bet the Ministry of Magic will get a real shock when Dumbledore turns up."

"But what can we —" Hermione gasped. Aileen, whose instincts were going haywire, had already stiffened slightly,and Ron wheeled round. Snape was standing there.

"Good afternoon," he said smoothly. They stared at him. This was the first time he had spoken too Aileen without sneering, she realised absentmindedly while the majority of her was just wondering how much Snape had overheard before she felt his presence. "You shouldn't be inside on a day like this," he said.

"We werejust having a word with professor McGonagall." Aileen said motioning back down the corridor.

"You want to be more careful," said Snape. "Hanging around like this, people will think you're up to something. And Gryffindor really can't afford to lose any more points, can it?"

Aileen refused to be embarrassed, they had done what was right by their friend and had been punished more than enough for it. They turned to go outsideso that they could talk further, but Snape called them back.

"Be warned, Potter - any more night time wanderings and I will personally make sure you are expelled. Good day to you." He strode off in the direction of the staffroom. Out on the stone steps were she was sure no one could sneak up on them and they would not be overheard, Aileen turned to the others.

"Right, here's what we've got to do," she whispered. "One of us has got to keep an eye on Snape — wait outside the staff room and follow him if he leaves it. Hermione, you'd better do that."

"Why me?" Hermione asked annoyed.

"It's obvious," said Ron. "You can pretend to be waiting for Professor Flitwick, you know." He put on a high voice, "Oh Professor Flitwick, I'm so worried, I think I got question fourteen bwrong…"

"And if McGonagall sees me again I'm pretty sure she'll kill me." Aileen added.

Hermione sighed but agreed to go and watch out for Snape.

"And you'd better stay outside the third-floor corridor make sure no one enters," Aileen told Ron.

"What about you?" Ron asked.

"I'm going to write a letter to Dumbledore, hopefully Hedwig can find him in time."

When Aileen returned the common room she found Ron there. Apparently McGonagall had found him and threatened to take was furious. How could she just ignore the fact that three students were asking about the protection around a stone they weren't supposed to know about? That alone should have had her checking or increasing the protection around the stone, not shouting at the students who were showing concern for the schools safety without even asking how they knew about it or who they believed to be after the stone.

Then the portrait of the Fat Lady swung open and Hermione came in.

"I'm sorry, Aileen!" she wailedgetting annoyed looks from the fifth and seventh year students who still had a week pf exams left. _"_ Snape came out and asked me what I was doing, so I said I was waiting for Flitwick, and Snape went to get him, and I've only just got away, I don't know where Snape went." she finished quieter now as she took a seat next to Aileen _._

"Well, that's it then, isn't it?" Aileen saidas she felt her stomach tighten painfully. The other two stared at her in confused shock. She was paler then normal and her eyes had hardened to emeralds that where glitteringin the firelight. "I'm going out of here tonight and I'm going to try and get to the Stone first."

"You're mad!" said Ron.

"You can't!" said Hermione. "After what McGonagall and Snape have said? You'll be expelled!"

"SO WHAT" Aileen said fiercely, and yet quietly, aware of the other students still in the common room. "Don't you understand? If whoever's after the stonegets hold of it, Voldemort's coming back! Haven't you heard what it was like when he was trying to take over? There won't be any Hogwarts to get expelled from! He'll flatten it, or turn it into a school for the Dark Arts! Losing points doesn't matter anymore, can't you see? D'you think he'll leave you and your families alone? Ron, according to the purebloods your family has been classed as blood-traitors. And Hermione, not only are you a muggle born but you're a smart muggleborn. They'll come for you both. You and your families, if Voldemort comes back. If I get caught before I can get to the Stone, well, I'll have to go back to the Dursleys and wait for Voldemort to find me there, it's only dying a bit later than I would have, because I'm never going over to the Dark Side! I'm going through that trapdoor tonight and nothing you two say is going to stop me!" She glared at them as she tried to get her point across, ignoring the fact that this was the second rant she'd had today: this school was no good on her temper _._

"You're right Aileen," said Hermione in a small voice.

"I'll use the invisibility cloak," said Aileen. "It's just lucky I got it back."

"But will it cover all three of us?" said Ron.

Aileen closed her eyes as her mind rebelled at the thought of them accompanying her – she did not want her first, and best friends, to get hurt or worse killed. "Yes it will cover us all." She said softly, she knew they would come with her weather she liked it or not.

After dinner the three of them sat nervously in front of the common room fire like normal – Hermione had said they should sit separately but Aileen told her that that would look bothered them; most of the Gryffindors had anything to say to Aileen any more, after all,although they had warmed up to Hermione, Neville and Ron after her rant. Neville had gone to bed early now that she stress exams were over.

Hermione was skimming through all her notes, hoping to come across one of the enchantments they were about to try to break or get around. Aileen and Ron didn't talk much. Both of them were thinking about what they were about to do although Aileen was flicking through her potions book barely taking in what she was reading.

Slowly, the room emptied as people drifted off to bed.

"Better get the cloak," Ron muttered, as Lee Jordan finally left, stretching and yawning.

Aileen silentlyran upstairs to her dark dormitory. She carefullypulled out the cloak and then her eyes fell on the flute Hagrid had given her for Christmas. She pocketed it to use on Fluffy — she didn't feel much like singing. She silentlyran back down to the common room.

"We'd better put the cloak on here, and make sure it covers all three of us – if Filch spots one of our feet wandering along on its own —"

"What are you doing?" said a voice from the corner of the room. Neville appeared from behind an armchair, clutching Trevor the toad, who looked as though he'd been making another bid for freedom.

"Neville, we tried to warn the teachers but they won't listen. So we're going to buy some time for Professor Dumbledore to arrive." Aileen spoke quickly before the other two could say anything.

"The Philosopher's stone, someone's going to try and take it?" he asked; Aileen had kept him up to date on everything after he went to find them the night they got Norbert out of the school. She didn't want a repeated of what happened that night to happen again.

"Yeah, we tried telling Professor McGonagall but she wouldn't listen. Please Nev, let us go. We don't have much time."

"Be careful," Neville finally said, stepping aside to let them past.

"Thank you," Aileen kissed his cheek and then led the others out into the corridor where she pulled the clock over them.

In their nervous state, every statue's shadow looked like Filch, every distant breath of wind sounded like Peeves swooping down on them. At the foot of the first set of stairs, they spotted Mrs Norris skulking near the top.

"Oh, let's kick her, just this once," Ron whispered in Aileen's ear, but Aileen shook her head.

As they climbed carefully around her, Mrs Norris turned her lamp like eyes on them, but didn't do anything. The rest of the journey went without any encounters until they reached the staircase of the third floor. There they wound Peeves, bobbing halfway up, loosening the carpet to that people would trip. Aileen was glad he wasn't doing it at the top of the staircase, because would cause some injuries.

"Who's there?" he said suddenly as they climbed toward him. He narrowed his wicked black eyes. "Know you're there, even if I can't see you. Are you ghoulie or ghostie or wee student beastie?" He rose up in the air and floated there, squinting in there general direction. "Should call Filch, I should, if something's a-creeping around unseen."

"Peeves," she said, in a hoarse whisper, "the Bloody Baron has his own reasons for being invisible."

Peeves almost fell out of the air in shock. He caught himself in time and hovered about a foot off the stairs. "So sorry, your bloodiness, Mr Baron, Sir," he said greasily. "My mistake, my mistake — I didn't see you — of course I didn't, you're invisible — forgive old Peevsie his little joke, sir."

"I have business here, Peeves," croaked Aileen. "Stay away from this place tonight."

"I will, sir, I most certainly will," said Peeves, rising up in the air again. "Hope your business goes well, Baron, I'll not bother you." And he scooted off.

"BloodyBrilliant, Aileen!" whispered Ronwhile Aileen rubbed her throat: it always hurt to try and impersonate someone with a deep gravelly voice like the Baron's.

A few seconds later, they were there, outside the third-floor corridor — and the door was already ajar.

"Well, there you are," Aileen said quietly, "They've already got past Fluffy."

Seeing the open door somehow seemed to impress upon all three of them what was facing them. Underneath the cloak, Aileen turned to the other two.

"If you want to go back, I won't blame you," she said praying that they would _. "_ You can take the cloak, I won't need it now."

"Don't be stupid," said Ron.

"We're coming," said Hermione.

Aileen sighed, nodding her assent before pushing the door open. As the door creaked, low, rumbling growls met their ears. All three of the dog's noses sniffed madly in their direction, even though it couldn't see them.

"What's that at its feet?" Hermione whispered.

"Looks like a harp," said Ron. "Snape must have left it there."

Aileen raised an eyebrow at that, Professor Snape had the fingers for the violin or the piano, not the harp."It must wake up the moment you stop playing," said Aileen.

She put Hagrid's flute to her lips and blew. It was an old lullaby she had heard once, andfrom the first note the beast's eyes began to droop. Aileen hardly drew breath. Slowly, the dog's growls ceased — it tottered on its paws and fell to its knees, then it slumped to the ground, fast asleep.

"Keep playing," Ron warned Aileen as they slipped out of the cloak and crept toward the trapdoor _;_ Aileen used her free hand to place the cloak in her pocket, she didn't want to leave it behind again. She was lucky it was returned to her the first time, she doubted it would be returned again. They could feel the dog's hot, smelly breath as they moved closer.

"I think we'll be able to pull the door open," said Ron, peering over the dog's back. "Want to go first, Hermione?"

"No, I don't!" Hermione snapped, as she tried to stay as far from the heads as she could.

"All right." Ron gritted his teeth and stepped carefully over the dog's legs. He bent and pulled the ring of the trapdoor, which swung up and open.

"What can you see?" Hermione said anxiously.

"Nothing — just black — there's no way of climbing down, we'll just have to drop."

Aileen, who was still playing the flute, waved at Ron to get his attention and pointed at herself forshe was used to falling from a height and could land in such a way as to not hurt herself if there was nothing down there.

"You want to go first? Are you sure?" said Ron. "I don't know how deep this thing goes. Give the flute to Hermione so she can keep him asleep."

Aileen handed the flute over. In the few seconds' silence, the dog growled and twitched, but the moment Hermione began to play the C and D notes alternatively on the flute, it fell back into its deep sleep. Aileen climbed over it and looked down through the trapdoor. There was no sign of the bottom.

She lowered herself through the hole until she was hanging on by her fingertips. Then she looked up at Ron and said,

"If anything happens to me, don't follow. Wait for Dumbledore, right?"

"Right," said Ron.

"I'll call up to youin a minute…" And Aileen let go. Cold, damp air rushed past her as she fell down, down, down and —

There was a flump sound for barely a second before she rolled, absorbing the impact so that she did not break her ankles or knees _._ She crouched were she stopped and felt around, her eyes not yetused to the gloom. It felt as though she was on some sort of plant.

"It's okay!" she called up to the light the size of a postage stamp, which was the open trapdoor, "it's a soft landing, you can jump!" Aileen cast a cushioning charm in the area they would land just in case _._

Ron followed right away. He landed, sprawled a foot too Aileen's left.

"What's this stuff?" were his first words.

"Some sort of plant, I guess. Come on, Hermione!" Aileen called as her eyes started to adjust allowing her to see the vines that covered the floor – she did not recognise the plant.

The distant music stopped. There was a loud bark from the dog, but Hermione had already jumped. She landed on Ron's other side.

"We must be miles under the school," she said.

"Lucky this plant thing's here, really," said Ron.

"Lucky!" shrieked Hermione. "Look at you both!"

She leapt up and struggled toward a damp wall. She had to struggle because the moment she had landed, the plant had started to twist snakelike tendrils around her ankles. As for Ron his legs had already been bound tightly in long creepers without their noticing. Aileen was in a slightly worse predicament since the vines had bound her legs and hips in a tight grip stopping her from moving her lower half. Aileen cursed the Dursley since she had not felt any pain from the tight grip the vines had on her until someone had pointed it out to her.

Hermione had managed to free herself before the plant got a firm grip on her. Now she watched in horror as the two fought to pull the plant off them, but the more they strained against it, the tighter and faster the plant wound around them.

"Stop moving!" Hermione ordered them. "I know what this is — it's Devil's Snare!"

"Oh, I'm so glad we know what it's called, that's a great help," snarled Ron, leaning back, trying to stop the plant from curling around his chest. Ignoring the vines that were now tightly around her chest and cutting of her oxygen, Aileen attempted to move her left leg so she could get her wand or dagger from the holsters she had around her thigh (she was the only one not in school uniform).

"Shut up, I'm trying to remember how to kill it!" said Hermione.

"Fire, Hermione, fire," Aileen gasped, trying to relax her upper body as she continued trying to get her wand.

"Devil's Snare, Devil's Snare…what did Professor Sprout say? — it likes the dark and the damp." Hermione continued having not heard her _._

"Light a fire!"Aileen chokedjust that bit louder.

"Yes — of course — but there's no wood!" Hermione cried, wringing her hands.

"HAVE YOU GONE MAD?" Ron bellowedas the vines tried to pin his arms down. "ARE YOU A WITCH OR NOT?"

"Oh, right!" said Hermione, and she whipped out her wand, waved it, muttered something, and sent a jet of the same bluebell flames she had used on Snape at the plant. In a matter of seconds, the two prisoners felt it loosening its grip as it cringed away from the light and warmth. Wriggling and flailing, it unravelled itself from their bodies, and they were able to pull free.

"Lucky you pay attentionand remember everything fromHerbology, Hermione,"said Aileen as she joined her by the wall, wiping the blood from her hip so that they did not notice it.

"Yeah," said Ron, "and lucky Aileen doesn't lose her head in a crisis — 'there's no wood,' honestly."

"This way," said Aileen before Hermione could reply, pointing down a stone passageway, which was the only way forward.

The passageway led to an open room where they discovered a group of what at first sight appeared to be glittering birds, but turned out to be keys. Hermione attempted the Alohomora charm, but it didn't unlock this door. Instead, they were forced to use the provided broomsticks to get the key. If it hadn't been for Ron narrowing their search down, they could have been there all night before Aileen found the key that fit the lock.

The next chamber was dark, but after they stepped forward into the room the light flared from the candles. Aileen assumed that they must have triggered a trip wire of some sort. This room held a giant, animated, chess set which they had to face and beat to get to the doors on the other side of the room. It was Ron who determined that they had to play their way across the board, and take the place of three of the pieces. Aileen was the bishop, Hermione the castle and Ron the knight. Ron was the one directing them across the board, because he was still the raining chess champion in Gryffindor.

Despite having confidence in Ron's chess skill, Aileen was greatly worried about his place as the knight. In 40% of the games Ron ended up sacrificing his knight after using it to decimate the other side. It was his favourite piece. She prayed this was one of those games where he didn't end up losing the knight – because if this was like wizarding chess the impact could injure him (she refused to think that it could do worse than that).

The game turned out to be like real wizard's chess when they lost a pawn. It was hit and destroyed before being dragged off the board to lie silent. Soon, either side of the board started looking like a chess grave yard as each side continued loosing pieces.

"We're nearly there," Ron muttered nearly thirty minutes into the game. "Let me think — let me think…"

The white queen turned her blank face toward him and Aileen's heart sank as her eyes flickered across the board taking in all and any moves she could see.

"Yes…" said Ron softly, "It's the only way…I've got to be taken."

"NO!" Aileen and Hermione shouted.

"That's chess!" snapped Ron. "You've got to make some sacrifices! I make my move and she'll take me — that leaves you free to checkmate the king, Aileen!"

"But —" Hermione tried to interrupt.

"Do you want to stop Snape or not?"

"Ron, she could kill you; move the castle to distract the queen." Aileen implored.

"We don't have the time to do that, if you don't hurry up, he'll already have the Stone!" A heavy silence fell between them before Aileen pointed her wand at the queen and cast a cushioning charm on her arms in the hopes of lessening the impact. This was the first time she had ever cast the spell, she had read about it in one of her books, so she hoped that she had done it right.

"Ready?" Ron called, his face pale but determined. "Here I go — now, don't hang around once you've won."

He ordered the night forward into its new position, which threatened the king by placing him in check. However, the white queen moved as she had so many times before to take down the threat. She struck Ron hard across the head with her stone arm, and the impact sent Ron crashing to the floor. Hermione screen from her square, but she was frozen in her place from the shock.

Aileen took a fortifying breath, trying not to look at her friend's limp and unconscious body, as she took three steps to the left. Blocking the king's only escape. Sensing that it had been defeated, the king threw his crown down at Aileen's feet.

The chessmen parted and bowed, leaving the door ahead clear. Aileen ran to Ron side for a second to make sure he was not hurt too bad. It seemed the cushioning charm worked to an extent, because Ron suffered from a slight concussion, and he'll wake with a head ach, but he would be fine. They couldn't carry him with them into the next part because he was now a liability, so she bundled her jacket under his head in order to support his neck. With that done, she grabbed Hermione's arm and led them through the now unblocked door.

"What if he's —?"

"He'll be all right, only a slight concussion" Aileen reassured Hermione. Her friends were like her siblings, and she didn't want them to be placed in danger. But it had been their choice and loyalty that had led them down the rabbit whole. She had done what she could for Ron, now they needed to focus otherwise they could get hurt. "What do you reckon's next?"

"We've had Sprout's, that was the Devil's Snare; Flitwick must've put charms on the keys; McGonagall transfigured the chessmen to make them alive; that leaves Quirrell's spell, and Snape's."

"And Headmaster Dumbledore's trap, he would have done the last one." Aileen added as she realised that they had never mentioned the man placing a protection.

The next door led to a chamber which was filled with a foul stench – a stench the girls recognised. The room contained a troll, but it was bigger than the one that had been set loose during Halloween. Aileen covered her nose and tried not to gat, not just from the smell of the troll but from the blood pouring from its head wound. It seemed that Quirrell had killed the troll to get passed it instead of just knocking it out like they had done with the one on Halloween.

"Come on," Aileen dragged a shocked Hermione through to the next room.

They had barely stepped into the next room when a wall of fire blocked the door they came through and the one in front of them. The one going back was purple, the one going forward was black. Aileen had never heard of purple or black fire before, but she assumed they were more dangerous than normal fire. The line of seven bottles of different shapes sat innocently on the desk next to a roll of parchment. It seemed that Snape had gone with simple and deadly.

"Look!" Hermione seized the parchment that Aileen had noted from the table; to reduce the time spent in the room Aileen motioned for Hermione to read it aloud.

Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind,

Two of us will help you, whichever you would find,

Which meant one potion led them back and another led them forward. The use of 'danger lies before you' was Snape's way of warning the intruder that they should turn back. It makes sense, because Aileen knew that a few of the student's would think this a test, and if they made it this far and read these words, there is a chance some would take it to heart and turn around. Especially, if it was a Slytherin who made it this far because they would instantly recognise Snape's hand writing and take the out while they could.

One among us seven will let you move ahead,

Another will transport the drinker back instead,

Two among our number hold only nettle wine,

Three of us are killers, waiting bidden in line.

So there is one forward, one back, two safe false and three poisons.

Choose, unless you wish to stay here forevermore,

To help you in your choice, we give you these clues four:

First, however slyly the poison tries to hide

You will always find some on nettle wine's left side;

Second, different are those who stand at either end,

But if you would move onward, neither is your friend;

Third, as you see clearly, all are different size,

Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides;

Fourth, the second left and the second on the right

Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight _._

Hermione smiled in relief when she had finished. She was someone who depended heavily on logic, so to come across a logic puzzle placed her in her element as opposed to most wizards who turned their back on logic because they didn't want to see the logic behind magic.

"Brilliant," said Hermione. "This isn't magic — it's logic — a puzzle. A lot of the greatest wizards haven't got an ounce of logic, they'd be stuck in here forever."

Hermione spent nearly a minute walking up and down in front of the bottles, muttering to herself. Aileen stepped back and let her work since Hermione was much better at these puzzles then her. And working on something so simple seemed to distract her from the situation they were in and calm her down.

"Got it," Hermione announced confidently. "The smallest bottle will get us through the black fire — toward the Stone."

Aileen looked at the tiny bottle. "There's only enough there for one of us," Aileen observed thoughtfully. "That's hardly one swallow."

They looked at each other.

"Which one will get you back through the purple flames?"

Hermione pointed at a rounded bottle at the right end of the line.

"You drink that," said Aileen. "No, listen," Aileen said cutting of whatever protest she was about to make _, "_ get back and get Ron. Grab brooms from the flying-key room, they'll get you out of the trapdoor and past Fluffy — go straight to the Hospital Wing. If you see Dumbledore tell him to hurry up. I might be able to hold them off for a while, but I'm no match for him, really."

"But Aileen — what if You-Know-Who's with him?"

"Well — I was lucky once, wasn't I?" said Aileen, pointing at her scar. "I might get lucky again."

Hermione's lip trembled, and she suddenly dashed at Aileen and threw her arms around her.

Aileen stiffened in shock. Although she had hugged others in comfort, this was the first time someone else was initiating a hug with her."Hermione?"

"Aileen — you're a great witch, you know."

"I'm not as good as you," Aileen disagreed as she stepped back.

"Me!" said Hermione. "Books! And cleverness! There are more important things — friendship and bravery and — oh Aileen —be careful!"

"You drink first," said Aileen. "You are sure which is which, aren't you?" she didn't want her hurt as well _._

"Positive," said Hermione. She took a long drink from the round bottle at the end, and shuddered.

"It's not poison?" said Aileen anxiously.

"No — but it's like ice."

"Quick, go, before it wears off."

"Good luck — take care."

"GO!" Aileen ordered sharply before she could continue talking.

Hermione turned and walked straight through the purple fire.

Aileen took a deep breath and picked up the smallest bottle. She turned to face the black flames. She was the daughter of Poseidon. It was her duty – as it was the duty of all children of the gods – to protect and do what was right. No matter how scared they may be, they must always step up and do what is right. And right now, stopping Voldemort from getting his hand on the stone was what is right. No matter how scared and untrained she was. She was not afraid of death – as long as her death meant something in the end – she would face it without regret.

"Here I come," she said, and she drained the little bottle in one gulp.

It was indeed as though ice was flooding her body. She put the bottle down and walked forward; she braced herself, saw the black flames licking her body, but couldn't feel them — for a moment she could see nothing but dark fire — then she was on the other side, in the last chamber.

There was already someone there — much to her relief it wasn't Snape.

"Quirrell"Aileen greeted, trying to sound confident. She wasrelieved it wasn't Snape – who was a brilliant duellist according to his records – and angry at this man who had played the school for a fool.

Quirrell smiled. His face wasn't twitching at all. "Potter" he returned calmly. "I wondered whether I'd be meeting you here.'"

"But we thought that Snape —"Aileen said in the hopes of keeping the man talking and stopping him from focusing on why he was down there until Dumbledore could arrive; he must have retrieved her owl by now, and if not then he would have surely noticed that something was wrong and he wasn't needed at the ministry.

"Severus?" Quirrell laughed, and it wasn't his usual quivering treble, either, but cold and sharp. "Yes, Severus does seem the type, doesn't he? So useful to have him swooping around like an overgrown bat. Next to him, who would suspect p-p-poor, st-stuttering P-Professor Quirrell? It wasIwhotried to kill youthe day of your first Quidditch match. Your friend Miss Granger accidentally knocked me over as she rushed to set fire to Snape at that Quidditch match. She broke my eye contact with you. Another few seconds and I'd have got you off that broom. I'd have managed it before then if Snape hadn't been muttering a counter-curse, trying to save you."

"Snape was trying to save me?" Aileen already new this but she needed the other to continue talking; besides, it was nice to know that Snape's hate façade, was just that – a façade.

"Of course," said Quirrell coolly. "Why do you think he wanted to referee your next match? He was trying to make sure I didn't do it again. Funny, really…he needn't have bothered. I couldn't do anything with Dumbledore watching. All the other teachers thought Snape was trying to stop Gryffindor from winning, he didmake himself unpopular… and what a waste of time, when after all that, I'm going to kill you tonight."

Quirrell snapped his fingers. Ropes sprang out of thin air but Aileen's years of fighting monsters and her training, meant that she was able to dodge. She raised her wand and shot a stunning spell at him.

Quirrell batted it aside with his wand and before Aileen could cast another spell she was wrapped tightly in robes, her arms pinned to her side and her wand on the floor. To stop herself from falling face first Aileen fell to her knees. Once she had stopped moving the rope tightened its grip on her and she let out a silent gasp of pain as she felt it digging into her skin and crushing her bones. Quirrell had cast the binding spell without his wand or words – how powerful was the man who had played the school for a fool?

"You're too nosy to live, Potter. Scurrying around the school on Halloween like that, for all I knew you'd seen me coming to look at what was guarding the Stone."

"Youlet the troll in?" she asked, pushing back her pain, to keep the man talking and not focusing on the mirror that was stood in front of him.

"Certainly. I have a special gift with trolls — you must have seen what I did to the one in the chamber back there? Unfortunately, while everyone else was running around looking for it, Snape, who already suspected me, went straight to the third floor to head me off — and not only did my troll fail to beat you to death, that three-headed dog didn't even manage to bite Snape's leg off properly. Now, wait quietly, Potter. I need to examine this interesting mirror."

Aileen cursed silently as Quirrell turned his attention tothe Mirror of Erised.

"This mirror is the key to finding the Stone," Quirrell murmured, tapping his way around the frame. "Trust Dumbledore to come up with something like this…but he's in London…I'll be far away by the time he gets back…"

All Aileen could think of doing was to keep Quirrell talking and stop him from concentrating on the mirror _–_ she needed to buy some time for Hermione and Ron had surely left the third floor by now and Dumbledore must be on his way back.

"I saw you and Snape in the forest —" she blurted out in the hopes of shocking Quirrell.

"Yes," said Quirrell idly, walking around the mirror to look at the back. "He was on to me by that time, trying to find out how far I'd got. He suspected me all along. Tried to frighten me — as though he could, when I had the Dark Lord on my side…"

Quirrell came back out from behind the mirror and stared hungrily into it. "I see the Stone…I'm presenting it to my master…but where is it?"

Aileen struggled against the ropes binding her, trying to twist her wrist enough to reach her dagger. She had to keep Quirrell from giving his whole attention to the mirror.

"But Snape always seemed to hate me so much."

"Oh, he does," said Quirrell casually, "heavens, yes. He was at Hogwarts with your father, didn't you know? They loathed each other. But he never wanted you dead."

"But I heard you a few days ago, sobbing – you were being threatened…"

For the first time, a spasm of fear flitted across Quirrell's face. "Sometimes," he said, "I find it hard to follow my master's instructions — he is a great wizard and I am weak —"

"You didn't used to be week." Aileen snapped at the man. "And how did Voldemort get into the classroom with you?"

"He is with me wherever I go," said Quirrell quietly. "I met him when I travelled around the world. A foolish young man I was then, full of ridiculous ideas about good and evil. Lord Voldemort showed me how wrong I was. There is no good and evil, there is only power, and those too weak to seek it… Since then, I have served him faithfully, although I have let him down many times. He has had to be very hard on me." Quirrell shivered suddenly. "He does not forgive mistakes easily. When I failed to steal the stone from Gringotts, he was most displeased. He punished me…decided he would have to keep a closer watch on me…" Quirrell's voice trailed away.

Quirrell cursed under his breath. "I don't understand…is the Stone inside the mirror? Should I break it?"

Aileen's mind was racing. _What I want more than anything else in the world at the moment_ , she thought, _is to find the Stone before Quirrell does. So if I look in the mirror, I should see myself finding it — which means I'll see where it's hidden! But how can I look without Quirrell realising what I'm up to?_ She triedto break free again but the rope was too tight and it was starting to shift to stop her wrist from moving at all. Quirrell appeared toignore her.

He was still talking to himself. "What does this mirror do? How does it work? Help me, Master!"

And to Aileen's horror, a voice answered, and the voice seemed to come from Quirrell himself.

"Use the girl…Use the girl…"

Quirrell rounded on Aileen. "Yes — Potter — come here."

He clapped his hands once, and the ropes binding Aileen fell off. Aileen got slowly to her feet, discreetly grabbing her wand from where it had fallen when the ropes had grabbed her.

"Come here," Quirrell repeated. "Look in the mirror and tell me what you see."

Aileen walked toward him not yet daring to raise her wand. _I must lie_ , she thought desperately. _I must look and lie about what I see, that's all_.

Quirrell moved close behind her. Aileen stiffened at how close to her he got. If he got any closer than he already was she would freak, and attack. The smell that hung around the man's turban was also not helping her control her emotions since it was clouding her mind and making her feel ill.

She closed her eyes, stepped in front of the mirror, and opened them again. She saw her reflection, pale and scared-looking at first. But a moment later, the reflection smiled at her. It put its hand into its pocket and pulled out a blood-red stone. It winked and put the Stone back in its pocket — and as it did so, Aileen felt something heavy drop into her real pocket. Somehow — incredibly — she'd gotten the Stone.

"Well?" said Quirrell impatiently. "What do you see?"

Aileen screwed up her courage, praying to her father that she'd make it out alive.

"I see my family; they are stood around me smiling proudly as Dumbledore shakes my hand: I've graduated Hogwarts with one of the highest grades and I have the head-girl badge pinned to my chest." Aileen told a half lie – the best of lies.

Quirrell cursed again. "Get out of the way," he said, forcefully pushing her to the floor.

As she hit the ground she felt the Philosopher's Stone against her leg. _Dare she make a break for it_? She tightened her grip on her wand as she got back to her feet _._ But she hadn't moved five paces before a high voice spoke, though Quirrell wasn't moving his lips.

"She lies…She lies…"

"Potter, come back here!" Quirrell shouted. "Tell me the truth! What did you see?"

The high voice spoke again. "Let me speak to her…face-to-face…"

"Master, you are not strong enough!"

"I have strength enough…for this…"

Aileen felt as if Devil's Snare was rooting her to the spot as she finally recognised the voice coming from Quirrell's turban. She couldn't move a muscle; she watched as Quirrell reached up and began to unwrap his turban. The turban fell away. Quirrell's head looked strangely small without it. Then he turned slowly on the spot. Aileen would have screamed, but she couldn't make a sound. Where there should have been a back to Quirrell's head, there was a face, the most terrible face Aileen had ever seen. It was chalk white with glaring red eyes and slits for nostrils, like a snake.

"Aileen Potter…" it whispered.

Aileen's legs felt like led but she took a single step back as she raised her wand. She didn't know any spells that could help her now but she was determined to buy as much time as she could for Dumbledore to get there.

"See what I have become?" the face said. "Mere shadow and vapour…I have form only when I can share another's body…but there have always been those willing to let me into their hearts and minds…Unicorn blood has strengthened me, these past weeks…you saw faithful Quirrell drinking it for me in the forest…and once I have the Elixir of Life, I will be able to create a body of my own…Now…why don't you give me that Stone in your pocket?"

So he knew, he was able to see into Aileen's mind when she looked in the mirror. Shetook another stepbackwardas she held her wand steady despite her trembling body.

"Don't be a fool," snarled the face. "Better save your own life and join me…We could rule this world together, you would be my equal, my queen. I will give you anything, everything."

"I will never join you." Aileen snapped, her eyes hard.

"Then you'll meet the same end as your parents…They died begging me for mercy…"

"LIAR!" Aileen snapped suddenly: she never did like people insulting her parents.

Quirrell was walking backward at her, so that Voldemort could still see her. For every step forward Quirrell took, Aileen stepped back _._ The evil face was now smiling.

"How touching…" it hissed. "I always value bravery…Yes, girl, your parents were brave…I killed your father first; and he put up a courageous fight…but your mother needn't have died…she was trying to protect you…Now give me the Stone, unless you want her to have died in vain."

"NEVER!" Aileen shouted as she shifted her stance so her right side was furthest from Quirrell. She was getting close to the chamber wall and would not be able to step back anymore.

"SEIZE HER!" Voldemort screamed, when Aileen made a move towards the door.

Aileen felt Quirrell's hand close on her wrist. At once, a needle-sharp pain seared across Aileen's scar; her head felt as though it was about to split in two. Ignoring the pain Aileen span round, kicking her leg up and forcing Quirrell to let go of her.

"Confringo," Aileen fired off the first spell.

But he shielded and fired a sickly yellow spell at her. Aileen dodged, not daring to shield for fear that it would not be strong enough to stop the curse. Then it began: spells being fired back and forward by the both of them. Aileen was extremely limited in what she could cast due to her lack of magical education while her opponent had the combined knowledge of Quirrell and Voldemort.

The Chamber was mostly destroyed by the time Aileen made a mistake. Voldemort fired a blasting curse that she dodged but she had gotten too close to the wall. The explosion sent her flying to the floor, her wand leaving her hand. Shaking her head in an attempt to clear it she went to draw her dagger but Quirrell was suddenly on top of her.

Quirrell wrapped both hands around Aileen's neck. Aileen's scar was almost blinding her with painas her airway was cut off and her mind was filled with the memory of Vernon straddling her. She viciously pushed the memory away as she grabbed Quirrell's wrist with her right hand and tried loosening his grip. Using her left arm (which had broken upon impact with the ground) she reached for her wand that lay just out of her reach, gritting her teeth at the pain such an action sent through her. Through her darkening vision she could see and hearQuirrell howling in agony.

"Master, I cannot hold her — my hands — my hands!"

And Quirrell, though pinning Aileen to the ground with his knees, let go of her neck but reapplied the pressure with his arms that were covered by his shirt as hestared, bewildered, at his own palms — Aileen could see they looked burned, raw, red, and shiny.

"Then kill her, fool, and be done!" screeched Voldemort.

Quirrell raised his wand to perform a deadly curse, but Aileen abandoned her wand and by instinct reached up and grabbed Quirrell's face —

"AAAARGH!"

Quirrell rolled off her, his face blistering, too, and then Aileen knew: Quirrell couldn't touch her bare skin, not without suffering terrible pain — her only chance was to keep hold of Quirrell, keep him in enough pain to stop him from doing a curse.

Aileen rolled to her knees andcaught Quirrell by the arm, and hung on as tight as she could.

Quirrell screamed and tried to throw Aileen off — the pain in Aileen's head was building — she couldn't see — she could only hear Quirrell's terrible shrieks and Voldemort's yells of, "KILL HER! KILL HER!" and other voices, maybe in Aileen's own head, crying, "Aileen!" in worry.

She felt Quirrell's arm wrenched from her grasp. Her vision was obscured completely by darkness and her head was spinning as she fell on her side and into oblivion.

Something gold was glinting just above her.

She blinked.

It was a pair of glasses.

How strange.

She blinked again as she felt something being placed on her face. The smiling face of Albus Dumbledore swam into view above her.

"Good afternoon, Aileen," said Dumbledore.

"Sir, you made it," she said, her voice cracked and she winced slightly in pain. "Did you stop him? Is the stone safe?" she continued.

"Calm yourself, dear child, you are a little behind the times," said Dumbledore. "Quirrell does not have the Stone.'

"Ron? Hermione?" she asked worriedly, trying to sit up despite the pain and exhaustion causing threw her body.

"Aileen, please relax, or Madam Pomfrey will have me thrown out." the Headmaster grabbed some pillows and rested them behind Aileen so that she could sit up straight without straining herself.

"Thanks," she murmured as she allowed her eyes to wander, taking in the blinding white hospital wing; she was lying in a bed with white linen sheets, and next to her was a table piled high with what looked like half the candy shop. She had never seen the world so clearly before. Reaching up she touched the glasses that now rested on her face.

"Tokens from your friends and admirers," said Dumbledore, beaming away as he motioned to the sweets. "What happened down in the dungeons between you and Professor Quirrell is a complete secret, so, naturally, the whole school knows. I believe your friends Misters Fred and George Weasley were responsible for trying to send you a toilet seat. No doubt they thought it would amuse you. Madam Pomfrey, however, felt it might not be very hygienic, and confiscated it. Madam Pomfrey is also responsible for your glasses. When she was running her scans she discovered that your eyes were damage, and alas, we do not have the means to repair such damage in one so young, so we got these glasses made for you."

"How long have I been in here?" she asked as her memories started to fit into place _._

"Three days. Mr. Ronald Weasley and Miss Granger will be most relieved you have come round, they have been extremely worried."

"But sir, what happened to Quirrell andthe Stone —"

"I see you are not to be distracted. Very well, the Stone. Professor Quirrell did not manage to take it from you. I arrived in time to prevent that, although you were doing very well on your own, I must say."

"You got there?" Aileen asked remembering the voice she heard just before passing out _. "_ You got my owl?"

"No sooner had I reached London than it became clear to me that the place I should be was the one I had just left. Your beautiful white owl arrived and your letter confirmed my suspicions. I arrived just in time to pull Quirrell off you."

"Sire why did you fly to London?" Aileen asked confused. She knew there were many means of travelling in the wizarding world and all of them were faster than flying.

"Alas, I was trying to delay my arrival at the ministry. Something, I now deeply regret." Dumbledore admitted.

"You couldn't have known." Aileen tried to reassure the man who had said her name with such concern when he arrived in the camber. No one had ever said her name in such a way before.

"I feared I might be too late." Dumbledore said gravely.

"I couldn't have kept him off the Stone much longer –" Aileen said softly, so as to not hurt her throat any more.

"Not the Stone,my dear, you — the effort involved nearly killed you. For one terrible moment there, I was afraid it had. As for the Stone, it has been destroyed."

"Destroyed?" said Aileen blankly. "But your friend — Nicolas Flamel —"

"Oh, you know about Nicolas?" said Dumbledore, sounding quite delighted. "You diddo the thing properly, didn't you? I had thought you only went down there when you realised that the thing I was protecting was in trouble." He smiled sadly at having misjudged Aileen before he continued _. "_ Well, Nicolas and I have had a little chat, and agreed it's all for the best."

"But that means he and his wife will die, won't they?"

"They have enough Elixir stored to set their affairs in order and then, yes, they will die."

Dumbledore smiled softlyat the look of sadnesson Aileen's face.

"To one as young as you, I'm sure it seems incredible, but to Nicolas and Perenelle, it really is like going to bed after a very, verylong day. After all, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure. You know, the Stone was really not such a wonderful thing. As much money and life as you could want! The two things most human beings would choose above all — the trouble is, humans do have a knack of choosing precisely those things that are worst for them."

"Sir?" saidAileenafter she poured herself a drink of water with a shacking hand. "I've been thinking…sir — even if the Stone's gone, Vol-, I mean, You-Know-Who —"

"Call him Voldemort, Aileen. Always use the proper name for things. Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself."

"Yes, sir." Aileen agreed pleased that she was not the only who said the man's name _. "_ Well, Voldemort's going to try other ways of coming back, isn't he? I mean, he hasn't gone, has he?"

"No, Aileen, he has not. He is still out there somewhere, perhaps looking for another body to share…not being truly alive, he cannot be killed. He left Quirrell to die; he shows just as little mercy to his followers as his enemies. Nevertheless, Aileen, while you may only have delayed his return to power, it will merely take someone else who is prepared to fight what seems a losing battle next time — and if he is delayed again, and again, why, he may never return to power."

Aileen nodded, but stopped quickly, because it made her head and neckhurt.

They fell into a comfortable silence before Dumbledore pulled something from his pocket. Aileen recognised it at once as her dagger, causing her to stiffen slightly.

"When madam Pomfrey removed your wand holster, she also removed this. Would you like to explain why you are carrying a dagger round my dear?" he asked softly, no judgement in his voice.

"It was a gift. I am a first year, sir, so I don't know a lot of magic. What I do know is non-magical fighting – which includes the wielding of a dagger. After someone attempted to kill me on the Quidditch pitch I started wearing the dagger." Aileen answered.

"Who would you get such a thing from, my dear?" the headmaster asked handing the dagger back.

"An old friend, he was the one who introduced defence to me." Aileen answered, which was technically true since Poseidon gave her, her first sword.

"I will allow you to continue carrying the dagger as long as it is not used on students, or staff."

"That condition is more than fair, sir, thank you." Aileen said taking the dagger and strapping it to her thigh once more. She could see her wand on the bed side table but she preferred to actually have a weapon on her person.

They once again sat in silence, then she said, "Sir, there are some other things I'd like to know, if you can tell me…things I want to know the truth about…"

"The truth," Dumbledore sighed. "It is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated with great caution. However, I shall answer your questions unless I have a very good reason not to, in which case I beg you'll forgive me. I shall not, of course, lie."

"Well…Voldemort said that he only killed my mother because she tried to stop him from killing me. But why would he want to kill me in the first place?"

Dumbledore sighed very deeply this time.

"Alas, the first thing you ask me, I cannot tell you. Not today. Not now. You will know, one day…put it from your mind for now, Aileen. When you are older…I know you hate to hear this…when you are ready, you will know."

"I have already faced him three times and I do not doubt I will face him again, Headmaster, please do not keep this information from me for too many years."Aileensaid for sheknew it would be no good to Headmaster nodded but she noticed that his eyes were sad and his shoulders slumped slightly as though he was carrying a great burden.

"Why couldn't Quirrell touch me?" Aileen asked softly, aware she was talking about a man she had just had a hand in killing.

"Your mother died to save you. If there is one thing Voldemort cannot understand, it is love. He didn't realise that love as powerful as your mother's for you leaves its own mark. Not a scar, no visible sign…to have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, will give us some protection forever. It is in your very skin. Quirrell, full of hatred, greed, and ambition, sharing his soul with Voldemort, could not touch you for this reason. It was agony to touch a person marked by something so good."

Dumbledore now became very interested in a bird out on the windowsill, which gave Aileen time to dry her eyes because at the mention of how much her mother loved her she had tears in her eyes.

When she had found her voice again, Aileen said, "And the invisibility cloak — where you the one who sent it to me?"

"Ah — your father happened to leave it in my possession, and I thought you might like it." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled "Useful things…your father used it mainly for sneaking off to the kitchens to steal food when he was here."

"And there's something else…" Aileen said unsure on how to ask her next question.

"Fire away."

"Quirrell said professor Snape, he hates me because he hated my father. Is that true?"

"Well, they did rather detest each other. Not unlike yourself and Mr Malfoy. And then, your father did something professor Snape could never forgive."

"What?" Aileen asked hopping her father did not do anything to hurt Snape.

"He saved his life."

"What?" Aileen blinked in shock that was in the completely opposite direction to which her mind had gone.

"Yes…" said Dumbledore dreamily. "Funny, the way people's minds work, isn't it? Professor Snape couldn't bear being in your father's debt…I do believe he worked so hard to protect you this year because he felt that would make him and your father even. Then he could go back to hating your father's memory in peace…"

Aileentried to understand this but her thoughts were already going in circles and her headache was returning with a vengeance so she stoppedand put it down as something to think through at a later date.

"And sir, there's one more thing…"

"Just the one?" Dumbledore asked in amusement _._

"How did I get the Stone out of the mirror?"

"Ah, now, I'm glad you asked me that. It was one of my more brilliant ideas, and between you and me, that's saying something. You see, only one who wanted to findthe Stone — find it, but not use it — would be able to get it, otherwise they'd just see themselves making gold or drinking Elixir of Life. My brain surprises even me sometimes…Now, enough questions. I suggest you make a start on these sweets. Ah! Bettie Bott's Every Flavour Beans! I was unfortunate enough in my youth to come across a vomit flavoured one, and since then I'm afraid I've rather lost my liking for them — but I think I'll be safe with a nice toffee, don't you?"

He smiled and popped the golden-brown bean into his mouth. Then he choked and said, "Alas! Ear wax!"

Madam Pomfrey, the nurse, was a nice and kind woman, but was very strict when it came to her patients.

"Just five minutes," Aileenpleaded after she drank the potion she needed to help take down the swelling still present around her throat.

"Absolutely not."

"You let Professor Dumbledore in…"

"Well, of course, that was the headmaster, quite different. You need rest."

"I am resting, look, lying down and everything. Oh, go on, Madam Pomfrey please…"

"Oh, very well," she said. "But five minutes only."

And she let Ron and Hermione in.

"Aileen!"

Hermione looked ready to fling her arms around her again, but Aileen was glad she held herself in as her head and throat were still very sore and Aileen doubted she could handle the jostling.

"Oh, Aileen, we were sure you were going to — Dumbledore was so worried —"

"The whole school's talking about it," said Ron. "What really happened?"

It was one of those rare occasions when the true story is even more strange and exciting than the wild rumours. Aileen told them nearly everything: Quirrell, the mirror, the Stone and Voldemort. Ron and Hermione were a very good audience; they gasped in all the right places, and when Aileen told them what was under Quirrell's turban, Hermione screamed out loud.

"So the Stone's gone?" said Ron finally. "Flamel's just going to die?"

"Dumbledore said that 'to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure'. Mr Flamel and Mrs Flamel have agreed to the destruction of their stone."

"I always said he was off his rocker," said Ron, looking quite impressed at how crazy his hero was.

"So what happened to you two?" said Aileen.

"Well, I got back all right," said Hermione. "I brought Ron round — that took a while — and we were dashing up to the entrance hall to wait for Dumbledore — he already knew — he just said, 'Aileen's gone after him, hasn't she?' and hurtled off to the third floor. A letter clutched in his hand."

"D'you think he meant you to do it?" said Ron. "Sending you your father's cloak and everything?"

"Well," Hermione exploded, "if he did — I mean to say that's terrible — you could have been killed."

"I don't think he wanted me to go down there, but he was not surprised that I did. I think he ..." Aileen paused to think of her next words, "... cares too much about me and his other students to allow them into a dangerous situation _._ He's a funny man, Dumbledore. I think he sort of wanted to give me a chance. I think he knows more or less everything that goes on here, you know what with the portraits, ghost and house elves. I reckon he had a pretty good idea we were going to try, and instead of stopping us from researching, he just taught us enough to help us survive just in case we did go down and he was unable to stop us. I don't think it was an accident he let me find out how the mirror worked. It's almost like he thought I had the right to face Voldemort if I could…" Aileen trailed of in thought.

"Yeah, Dumbledore's off his rocker, all right," said Ron proudly. "Listen, you've got to be up for the end-of-year feast tomorrow. The points are all in and Slytherin won, of course — you missed the last Quidditch match, we were steamrollered by Ravenclaw without you -" Aileen reminded herself to speak with Oliver about getting a reserve seeker _, "_ but the food will be good.'

At that moment, Madam Pomfrey bustled over. "You've had nearly fifteen minutes, now OUT!" she said firmly.

After a good night's sleep, Aileen felt nearly back to normal.

"I want to go to the feast," she pleaded to Madam Pomfrey as she straightened her many candy boxes. She couldn't standing being in the hospital wing longer than absolutely necessary. It was to white and smiled of cleaning fluids. It reminded her of all the times she had to use bleach to clean the kitchen or dining room under Petunia's watchful eye and without gloves. "I can go, can't I?"

"Professor Dumbledore says you are to be allowed to go," she said stiffly, as though in her opinion Professor Dumbledore didn't realize how risky feasts could be. "And you have another visitor."

"Who is it?" Aileen asked confused.

Hagrid sidled through the door as she spoke. As usual when he was indoors, Hagrid looked too big to be allowed. He sat down next to Aileen, took one look at her, and burst into tears.

"It's — all — my — ruddy — fault!" he sobbed, his face in his hands. 'I told the evil git how ter get past Fluffy! I told him! It was the only thing he didn't know, an' I told him! Yeh could've died! All fer a dragon egg! I'll never drink again! I should be chucked out an' made ter live as a Muggle!"

"Hagrid!" said Aileen reaching forward and gentle taking one of Hagrid's hands in her own "Hagrid, he'd have found out somehow, this is Voldemort we're talking about, he'd have found out even if you hadn't told him."

"Yeh could've died!" sobbed Hagrid. "An' don' say the name!"

"I've met him and I'm calling him by his name." Aileen said raising her right hand and gently lying it on Hagrid's furry cheek. He hiccupped, shocked from his crying fit by her actions. "Please cheer up, Hagrid, we saved the Stone, it's gone, he can't use it and I am perfectly fine. I promise."

Hagrid wiped his nose on the back of his hand and said, "That reminds me. I've got yeh a present."

"It's not a stoat sandwich, is it?" Aileenjoked with a smile and at last Hagrid gave a weak chuckle. It was one of the few pieces of food Aileen had actually eaten while at Hagrid's had it had resulted in her taking a trip to Hagrid's toilet in order to violently throw up. The other two hadn't had such a reaction to the sandwich, so they all assumed it was Aileen's stomach that rejected the food.

"Nah. Dumbledore gave me the day off yesterday ter fix it. 'course, he shoulda sacked me instead — anyway, got yeh this…"

It seemed to be a handsome, leather-covered book. Aileen opened it curiously. It was full of wizard photographs. Smiling and waving at her from every page were her mother and father. "Sent owls off ter all yer parents' old school friends, askin' fer photos…knew yeh didn' have any…d'yeh like it?"

Aileencouldn't speak for a moment,so she just hugged the much larger man as best she could. "Could you, perhaps give the names of the people who sent you the pictures. I would like to know the stories behind them?" Aileen asked hesitantly.

"Course I can." Hagrid agreed. "I'll 'ave the list for yah, tomorrow." Hagrid promised, glad that Aileen liked the gift.

Aileen had to suffer one final check-up, which meant she made her way down to the end-of-year-feat on her own. By the time she arrived at the Slytherin decorated great hall, it was full with students. Aileen guessed that she was probably the last one to arrive.

Ignoring the sudden hush that fell over the hall when she entered, Aileen headed to her spot between Ron and Hermione at the Gryffindor table. As she took her seat the hall erupted into loud whispers as everyone started taking at once. The babble didn't last long because Dumbledore stood, and this action silenced the hall.

"Another year gone!" Dumbledore said cheerfully. "And I must trouble you with an old man's wheezing waffle before we sink our teeth into our delicious feast. What a year it has been! Hopefully your heads are all a little fuller than they were…you have the whole summer ahead to get them nice and empty before next year starts… Now, as I understand it, the house cup here needs awarding, and the points stand thus: In fourth place, Gryffindor, with three hundred and twelve points; in third, Hufflepuff, with three hundred and fifty-two; Ravenclaw has four hundred and twenty-six and Slytherin, four hundred and seventy-two."

A storm of cheering and stamping broke out from the Slytherin table. Aileen could see Draco Malfoy banging his goblet on the table.

"Yes, Yes, well done, Slytherin," said Dumbledore. "However, recent events must be taken into account."

The room went very still. The Slytherins' smiles faded a little.

"Ahem," said Dumbledore. "I have a few last-minute points to dish out. Let me see. Yes… First — to Mr Ronald Weasley…" Ron went purple in the face; he looked like a radish with a bad sunburn. "…for the best-played game of chess Hogwarts has seen in many years, I award Gryffindor house fifty points." Gryffindor cheers nearly raised the bewitched ceiling; the stars overhead seemed to quiver.

Percy could be heard telling the other prefects, "My brother, you know! My youngest brother! Got past McGonagall's giant chess set!"

At last there was silence again. "Second — to Miss Hermione Granger…for the use of cool logic in the face of fire, I award Gryffindor house fifty points."

Hermione buried her face in her arms; Aileen strongly suspected she had burst into tears as she placed a calming hand on her arm. Aileen tried not to laugh at the bun, since Hermione had used logic to find the ice potion while faced with up and down the table were beside themselves — they were a hundred points up.

"Third — to Miss Aileen Potter…" said Dumbledore. The room went deadly quiet. "…for pure nerve and outstanding courage, I award Gryffindor house sixty points."

The din was deafening. Those who could add up while yelling themselves hoarse knew that Gryffindor now had four hundred and seventy-two points — exactly the same as Slytherin. They had tied for the house cup — but Aileen was not sure this was such a good thing. If Dumbledore was giving out points he should have given them before the feast instead of getting the Slytherins hopes up.

"Which means," Dumbledore called over the storm of applause, "we need a little change of decoration." He clapped his hands. In an instant, the green hangings where joined by scarlet. Professor Snape was shaking Professor McGonagall's hand, both with a forced smile.

Aileen had almost forgotten that the exam results were still to come, but come they did. To Aileen's surprise she had passed with very high marks, fifth highest in the year, and Ron had also passed with good marks as the tenth place in their year; Hermione, of course, had the best grades of the first years.

Three days after the end of year-feast (which didn't make sense to Aileen, since it wasn't the end of the year, it was the end of the final exams), everyone's trunk were packed. The Gryffindor's had gone on a hunt for Neville's toad, which had somehow made its way to the fourth year girl's toilets. The heads of houses handed their student's the slip of parchment reminding them that they aren't to do magic outside of school ("I always hope they'll forget to give us these," said Fred sadly as George gleefully set his piece of parchment alight).

Although the older years took the carriages down to Hogsmeade station, the first years were led back to the boats by Hagrid. Apparently it was tradition that the first years begin and end Hogwarts in the same fashion.

The train journey back to London was filled with jokes and games. Aileen shared some of the mound of sweets she still had from the hospital wings (she had only just finished the sweets brought on the first train journey and so hadn't touched the mound, figuring she could eat some during the holidays since they had a long sell-by date).

When they arrived at King's Cross, it took a while for everyone to get off the platform since there was close to half the school trying to cross the barrier onto the non-wizarding side. The guard would only led them through the barrier in small groups since he didn't want to alarm the non-magicals by the sudden swarm of people from nowhere.

"You must come and stay this summer," Ron offered as they were crossing the barrier, "both of you — I'll send you an owl."

"Thanks," said Aileen, "I'll need something to look forward to."

"Busy year?" Mrs Weasley asked when they finally made their way to her side.

"Very," said Aileen. "Thanks for the fudge and the sweater, Mrs Weasley." She said although she had already sent her a thank you note.

"Oh, it was nothing, dear."

"Ready, are you?" It was Vernon, still purple-faced, still moustached, still looking furious at the nerve of Aileen, carrying an empty owl cage in a station full of ordinary people. Behind him stood Petunia and Dudley, looking terrified at the very sight of Aileen and so many wizards.

"I'll see you guys in the summer." Aileen said, and with a finally wave she took off after the Dursleys.

Word Count: 14,503

Copied: 7,672

Edited: 06/98/2017


	10. Chapter 10: Summer Madness Edited

Okay, lets start with: I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER. I'm just happily playing in JK's sand box. I DON'T OWN PERCY JACKSON either. I'm only allowed to play on the swing sets (pouts).

So, the next thing on my list of things to put on the top of this story: I've used a lot of the book structure of the first four years. By this I mean Aileen will be face a troll, save a dragon, go down the third floor, be blamed for opening the chamber, reveal her parseltongue abilities in the dueling club, save Ginny and kill the basilisk, and confront Sirius at the end of third year. Aileen will also be entered into the goblet, however she will be complete the tasks completely differently to Harry. If you don't like stories that do this then this isn't the story for you. Although I divert most majorly from the story line after book four, there are points through the first four years were Aileen dose something that Harry would never do because that is the way I've portrayed my character.

And finally, I have heavily edited the first twenty four chapters. You need to re-read the entire story to understand what happens after that point because it all ties together. By heavily edited, I mean nearly 40% of my story has completely been re-written. There is better characterization, more realistic sword skills and a little bit more on the emotional explanation of my character.

* * *

Chapter 10: Year two: Summer Madness

When Aileen came home for the summer holidays she noticed that Vernon was treating her worse than was the normal prior to her going to Hogwarts.

Her school things were locked under the stairs. Only her wand, the invisibility cloak, her photo album and the stash of food escaping scrutiny since she had learned how to cast a notice-me-not charm (a sixth year charm, but she had been desperate to learn it). The charm also resided on the neckless her father had gifted her (the one that turned into a sword already had such a spell built into it because it was designed to blend in and go unnoticed by mortals) and her dagger and wand holsters. However she kept the dagger and wand under a loose floor board in her room with the cloak and other things (the items had been wrapped in the invisibility clock, which in turn was tied around her midsection and hidden under her cloths when she arrived at the house).

None of her weapons would do her much good against the Dursley's, because the magic that surrounded the house and was bound to her, Petunia and Dudley was stopping her from fighting back. The only consolation she now had was that she knew it was magic stopping her from defending herself and she could (and would) find a way of negating the magic and getting out of the house.

The first three days of the holiday she spent chained to the roof of the basement while Vernon let out nine months of stress and frustration. Then, when she was free, she was forced to do the chores. During the school year, Petunia had done the bare minimum to keep the house running. This meant that the garden was a mess, the car hadn't been cleaned; dust was everywhere, and there was a large pile of laundry; the guttering needed doing and many more tedious activities.

The neighbours hadn't questions the sudden lack of perfection around the house, assuming Petunia just wasn't coping well with 'both' her children being away for school. "Empty-nest syndrome" they would whisper sympathetically every time it was brought up. The fact that the house was back to its previous glory in under two weeks of both her and Dudley retuning, only seemed to confirm the neighbour's opinion on the matter.

Vernon didn't chain her in the basement every night, but she was beaten more often than before her first year at Hogwarts; he seemed to not only be making up for lost time but also trying to enforce the fact that she would be killed if she told anyone what happened there. Luckily her ability to heal while in water saved her from more beatings because she couldn't complete her chores. Another saving grace – and curse – was that she finally started her periods. Her body had been developing quicker than most girls her age so she was not surprised by this development. This change in her body also meant that Vernon had to be _very_ careful when he raped her encase he got her pregnant.

Petunia, who was still not aware of what was happening, got her the items she needed each month and she also brought her the pill. Petunia had not been as bad as Vernon before she went to Hogwarts, never rising her hand to physically harm her. She only verbally insulted her parents. But now, something had change. Petunia snuck around behind her husband's back to help Aileen in small ways: making sure she got food as often as possible, keeping her out of sight, helping with a couple of chores, telling Dudley off if he got to aggressive or stopped her from completely chores. Aileen wasn't sure, but she thought that maybe Vernon had finally raised his hand to Petunia over the school year and this was Petunia's small way of rebelling and taking control of something.

If she wasn't being beaten or doing the chores around the house Aileen spent her time out in the neighbourhood. Monster attacks happened nearly every day – like they were trying to make up for the fact that they could not attack her while at Hogwarts. It started small with hellhounds but by the time the second week of the holidays had started the monsters attacking her started becoming more dangerous and harder to kill. She faced the Monitor, Pit Scorpions, a Caucasian Eagle, two Chimeras, three Empousai, Harpies, a Manticore, Mormo and, much to Aileen's horror, the Lernaean Hydra.

Aileen didn't think that the god's new who she was yet, but the monsters obviously did. It was only the liberal use of her mind, and her knowledge of her surroundings that kept her alive, because Aileen still didn't have a training partner for her sword fighting which meant she could only improve so much. Instinct, stamina ad logic was the only reason she hadn't been killed and she made a mental note to speak with her father the next time she saw him about some training.

When she wasn't fighting monsters she was looking after the neighbourhood kids (sometimes being paid to babysit) or helping around the neighbourhood by walking dogs, cutting lawns, baking for the elderly, collecting shopping and various other things that would get her some money. She couldn't spend the money she got from the wizarding world without the Dursley's being aware of it; the cloths she brought in Diagon Alley brought enough suspicion to her and only her quick thinking and Petunia's agreement allowed her to keep the cloths.

Before she had left for the summer the Dursley's had tried to say that she was being sent to St. Brutus' Secure Centre for Incurably Criminal juniors. However her work around the neighbourhood and the fact that the children liked her meant they could do no such thing. This meant her reputation as the 'quiet, scruffy girl that is always willing to lend a hand' remained intact

Despite having found ways to make the summer holidays as bearable as possible, Aileen missed her home. Noting being within the comforting walls of Hogwarts, was creating a constant stomach-ache in the same way her dorm mates had described feeling home-sick. There was many aspect of the school Aileen missed: the secret passageways, the ghosts, Peeves the poltergeist, her classes, the owls delivering mail in the morning, being able to eat regular meals (and not being the one to prepare it), her bed in the dormitory, the girls nights, visiting Hagrid and flying. However, above all, he missed seeing and speaking with her friends.

Today was Aileen'stwelfth birthday,more than a month after school ended and she still had not heard a word from her friends. Hedwig had returned after delivering a few letters with her feathers ruffled and blood on her claws which had worried Aileen so much she had not dared send Hedwig out again. The Dursleys hadn't remembered that today happened to be her birthday, either. Of course her hopes hadn't been high; they'd never given her a real present and ignoredthe day completely most years; unless Vernon happened to remember in which case Aileen would receive an extra beating...

Aileen, like every day, had prepared breakfast that morning and after cleaning the kitchen, went back to the dining area to start taking away the empty dishes. Any food on the table did not last long with both Vernon and Dudley there. Therefore it did not surprise her that most of the plates needed to be removed to the kitchen.

The moment she stepped into the dining area Vernon cleared his throat importantly and said, "Now as we all know, today is a very important day. This could well be the day I make the biggest deal of my career."

 _Of course_ ,she thought bitterly,collecting the plates from the table, _Vernon was talking about the stupid dinner party_. He'd been talking of nothing else for two weeks. Some rich builder and his wife were coming to dinner and Vernon was hoping to get a huge order from him and it was starting to get on Aileen's nerves because Vernon would speak about nearly nothing else.

"I think we should run through the schedule one more time," Vernon began self-importantly, as he turned to his wife who was sipping tea at the table while eating some fruit (she was on a special diet which was the only reason Aileen wasn't starving to death because she had managed to convince Vernon to place Aileen on it as well (unless she was being punished). What he didn't know was that although there was little food in Petunia's diet (in comparison to his and Dudley's), it was all high in nutrients and fibre, meaning Aileen had more energy when combined with the food she had stashed). "We should all be in position at eight o'clock. Petunia, you will be-?"

"In the lounge," said Petunia promptly, "waiting to welcome them graciously to our home."

"Good, good. And Dudley?"

"I'll be waiting to open the door." Dudley put on a simpering smile. "May I take your coats, Mr. and Mrs. Mason?"

"Excellent, Dudley," said Vernon. Then he rounded on Aileen _._ "And you?"

"I'll be in my bedroom, making no noise and pretending I'm not there," Aileen repliedtonelessly.

"Exactly," said Vernon nastily. "I will lead them into the lounge, introduce you, Petunia, and pour them drinks. At eight-fifteen-"

"I'll announce dinner," said Petunia, her eyes flicking to Aileen briefly. She obviously did not know what she wanted to be served yet otherwise she would have said.

"And, Dudley, you'll say-"

"May I take you through to the dining room, Mrs. Mason?" said Dudley, offering his fat arm to an invisible woman.

"And you?" said Vernon viciously to Aileen.

"I'll be in my room, making no noise and pretending I'm not there," Aileen replied dryly.

"Precisely. Now we should aim to get in a few good compliments at dinner. Petunia, any ideas?"

"Vernon tells me you're a wonderful golfer, Mr. Mason...Dotell me where you bought your dress Mrs. Mason..."

"Perfect...Dudley?"

"How about- 'you must be very skilled, Mr Mason, to do so well in the building trade.'"Not wanting to be embarrassed Petunia had discussed a few ideas with her son since she realised he had his father's brains.

"And you girl?"

"I'll be in my room, making no noise and pretending I'm not there," she said.

"Too right you will," said Vernon forcefully. "The Masons don't know anything about you and it's going to stay that way." With his threat out the way, he turned back to his family. "When dinner's over, you take Mrs. Mason back to the lounge for coffee, Petunia, and I'll bring the subjects around to drills. With any luck, I'll have the deal signed and sealed before the news at ten. We'll be shopping for a vacation home in Majorca this time tomorrow. Right - I'm off into town to pick up the dinner jackets for Dudley and me. And you," he snarled at Aileen. "Youwill do exactly as your aunts says to get this house spotless."

Aileen headed into the back garden. It was a brilliant, sunny day. She crossed the lawn,and knelt before the flower patch at the back. It was the only part of the garden she had yet to do and she had two hours before she would need to start preparing for the dinner that night. While she worked Aileen sang under her breath:

"Happy Birthday to me...happy birthday to me..."

No cards, no presents, no letters just saying hello,and she would be spending the evening pretending not to exist. She had never felt so lonely, simple because she had never felt the feeling of friendship and belonging before. How could one know what being truly lonely felt like, until they had had a taste of friendship and acceptance and then had it taken away. She didn't belong in the neighbourhood, and although she was respected and like, she had no friends. Now she was back to being lower than a slave.

The thing Aileen missed most about Hogwarts's was her friends. Although she got on well with the people in her year, Hagrid and the Quidditch team, she hadn't been expecting contact from them. But her best friends had promised they would write, and Aileen didn't understand why Ron and Hermione hadn't.

Countless times, Aileen had been on the point of letting Hedwig fly to Ron and Hermione with a letter, butshe had already been injured once delivering letters, Aileen refused to risk her friend's health simply because she was long silence from Ron and Hermione had made Aileen feel so cut off from the magical world, and now Ron and Hermione had forgotten her birthday.

What wouldn't she give now for a message from Hogwarts? From any witch or wizard? Just to be sure it hadn't all been a dream...

Not that her whole year at Hogwarts had been fun. What with the fact she faced off against Voldemort at the end of the year and nearly died; she still had nightmares about his withered face on the back of Quirrell's head. And his wide, blood red eyes.

The hairs on the back of Aileen's head stood on end and she turned, holding the trowel tightly in her hand. Two enormous green eyes had appeared among the leaves in the bush on her left. When the eyes noticed Aileen had seen them they disappeared. Before she could search for them Dudley came waddling out into the yard.

The boy had gotten marginally better over the school year, but he was still a spoiled brat who took joy in insulting her. However, with his mother stood in the living room watching, he did nothing more than sneer before leaving the garden to go and see his friends.

Aileen was forced to clean the windows, wash the car, mow the lawn, trim the flowerbeds, prune and water the roses, repaint the garden benchand then begin cooking the dinner that she would get none of and finish the desert that she had started the day before.

It was half past seven in the evening when at last, exhausted, Petunia told her to stop.

"Go up to your room; the Masons will be here soon!"Petunia told her, entering the kitchen that she had been avoiding all day. She had put on one of her best cocktail dresses – a multi-layered pink thing that was meant to hug the figure but due to her lack of fat or muscle didn't look very flattering.

"The pork is in the oven and the vegetables are cooking. Everything should be finished in about thirty minutes. The red timer tells you when to take the pork out and the yellow one tells you when the vegetables are done. The pork needs to rest for two minutes so you can plate everything else up first. Your desert is in the fridge, if Mr or Mrs Mason are allergic to strawberry's I have also made a chocolate fudge that you will find in the top draw of the second fridge." And with her instructions finished Aileen left Petunia in the kitchen.

As she passed the door to the living room, Aileen caught a glimpse of Vernon and Dudley in bow ties and dinner jackets.

She had only just reached the upstairs landing when the doorbell rang and Vernon's furious face appeared at the foot of the stairs.

"Remember, girl—one sound—"

Aileen crossed to her bedroom, slipped inside, closed the door, and turned to collapse on her bed due to exhaustion; she hadn't eaten in two days (she risk sneaking her own food because of the way she was being watched) and she only got three hours of sleep the night before combined with the continues work meant she was only a few steps away from collapsing.

The trouble was, something else had taken up residence on her bed.

Aileen paused, staring in exhausted surprise. The little creature on the bed had large, bat like ears and bulging green eyes the size of tennis balls. Aileen new instantly that this was what had been watching her out of the garden hedge that morning. As they stared at each other, Aileen heard Dudley's voice from the hall:

"May I take your coat, Mr and Mrs Mason?"

The creature slipped off the bed and bowed so low that the end of its long, thin nose touched the carpet. Aileen noticed that it was wearing what looked like an old pillowcase, with rips for arm and leg holes. After a moment Aileen's exhausted mind caught up with what it was seeing and identified the creature as a House-Elf.

"Hello,"Aileen said quietly.

"Aileen Potter!" said the house elf in a high pitched voice Aileen was sure would carry down the stairs. "So long has Dobby wanted to meet you, miss... Such an honour it is..."

"Thank you," Aileensaid slightly uneasily. "May I inquire as to your name?"

"Dobby, miss, just Dobby; Dobby the house elf," saidthe house elf.

"Alright Dobby, it's good to meet you." Aileen paused, trying to think of a way of wording her request, "Dobby, my Uncle is currently having a dinner party with people who don't know about the wizarding world, and I would greatly appreciate it if you kept your voice down because I don't want to get in trouble with the Ministry. Can you do that for me Dobby?" Aileen asked as Petunia's high, false laugh sounded from the living room.

"Of course, Dobby can be quite for Aileen Potters, miss." Dobby said quietly, nodding vigorously.

"Is there a particular reason you have come to see me, Dobby?" Aileen asked, absently undoing her hair and running her fingers threw it.

"Oh, yes, miss," said Dobby earnestly. "Dobby has come to tell you, miss... It is difficult, miss... Dobby wonders where to begin..."

"Why don't you take a seat," Aileen politely offered _,_ pointing to the bed,so that she could also take a seat.

To her horror, the elf burst into tears... "S-sit down!" he wailed quietly, obviously still taking her request to heart despite his distress _._ "Never... Never ever..."

"I'm sorry," Aileen whispered horrified she had made the poor thing cry, "I didn't mean to offend you..."

"Offend Dobby!" choked the elf. "Dobby has never been asked to sit down by a wizard – like an equal." Aileen placed a comforting hand on the elf's shoulder and led him to the bed were she sat next to him _._ At last he managed to control himself, and sat with his great eyes fixed on Aileen in an expression of watery adoration.

"Then it appears the wizards you have met do not realise you are equal to us." Aileen told the elf softly. "Dobby, does your family know that you are here?" Aileen asked with a sinking feeling in her gut.

Dobby shuddered. "Oh, no, miss, no... Dobby will have to punish himself most grievously for coming to see you, miss. Dobby will have to shut his ears in the oven door for this. If they ever knew, miss-"

"But won't they notice if you shut your ears in the oven door?" Aileen asked appalled at the abuse showed towards this poor being whose kind probably had enough power to overthrow the Wizarding World. She had never had to hurt herself as punishment before, and yet Dobby was saying he would do it without being ordered because he knew he was doing something outside the rules.

"Dobby doubts it, miss. Dobby is always having to punish himself for something, miss. They lets Dobby get on with it, miss. Sometimes they reminds me to do extra punishments... "

"Can't anyone help you? Isn't there someone looking after house-elf welfare? Can't I help you break the bond you have with your masters?" Almost at once, Aileen wished she hadn't spoken. Dobby dissolved again into wails of gratitude.

"Please," Aileen whispered franticallyher eyes darting to the door, "please be quiet. If the Dursleys hear anything, if they know you're here... "

"Aileen Potter asks if she can help Dobby... Dobby has heard of your greatness, miss, but of your goodness, Dobby never knew... "

"Whatever you've heard about my greatness is a load of rubbish. I'm not even top of my year at Hogwarts; that's Hermione, she'smy friend and the brightest witch you'll ever meet." Aileen deflected, glad that dobby had quietened again.

"Aileen Potter is humble and modest," said Dobby reverently, his orb like eyes aglow. "Aileen Potter speaks not of her triumph over He-Who Must-Not-Be-Named." "

"Voldemort?" asked Aileen stilled not used to the acronyms people used for the mad man _._

Dobby clapped his hands over his bat ears and moaned, "Ah, speak not the name, miss! Speak not the name!"

"Sorry" saidAileenquickly. "I know lots of people don't like it. My friend Ron is always saying I shouldn't say it. But I find it difficult because I've not grown up fearing the name."

Dobby leaned toward Aileen, his eyes wide as headlights. "Dobby heard tell," he said hoarsely, "that Aileen Potter met the Dark Lord for a second time just weeks ago... That Aileen Potter escaped yet again." Aileennodded her confirmation of the rumour, while her brain identified Dobby's family as having a child at Hogwarts (not that that really helped but it was something) and Dobby's eyes suddenly shone with tears. "Ah, miss," he gasped, dabbing his face with a corner of the grubby pillowcase he was wearing. "Aileen Potter is valiant and bold! She has braved so many dangers already! But Dobby has come to protect Aileen Potter, to warn her, even if he does have to shut his ears in the oven door later... Aileen Potter must not go back to Hogwarts. "

There was a silence broken only by the chink of knives and forks from downstairs and the distant rumble of Uncle Vernon's voice.

"I'm sorry Dobby, but Hogwarts's is my home. Term starts September first, and it's the only thing getting me through the days. It's not safe here, and I'm not happy. I belong at Hogwarts, in your world." Aileen tried to let Dobby down gentle since he was acting to protect her, but she refused to get up her only escape from the Dursley's because she might be in danger.

"No, no, no," squeaked Dobby desperately, shaking his head so hard his ears flapped. "Aileen Potter must stay where she is safe. She is too great, too good, to lose. If Aileen Potter goes back to Hogwarts, she will be in mortal danger. "

"What's going on Dobby?" Aileen asked softly, her brow creased in worry.

"There is a plot, Aileen Potter. A plot to make most terrible things happen at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year," whispered Dobby, suddenly trembling all over. "Dobby has known it for months, miss. Aileen Potter must not put herself in peril. She is too important, miss!"

"What terrible things?" said Aileen at once; unwilling to let her home face anything that could harm her or those inside her walls. "Who's plotting them?" Dobby made a funny choking noise and then made as though to bang his head against the walls.

"All right!" Aileencalled quietly, gentlygrabbing the elf's arm to stop him from harming himself. "You can't tell me. I understand. But why are you warning me?" A sudden, unpleasant thought struck her. "Hang on - this hasn't got anything to do with Vol - sorry - with You-Know-Who, has it? You could just shake or nod," she added hastily as Dobby's head tilted worryingly close to the wall again.

Slowly, Dobby shook his head. "Not - not He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, miss." But Dobby's eyes were wide and he seemed to be trying to give Aileen a hint. Aileen, however,had no idea what he could possibly be trying to say _._

"Who would try and do something terrible at Hogwarts? I mean even Voldemort – sorry -" Aileen added when Dobby whimpered, "feared Dumbledore and didn't dare attack the school while he was there. You know who Dumbledore is, don't you?"

Dobby nodded his head. "Albus Dumbledore is the greatest headmaster Hogwarts has ever had. Dobby knows it, miss. Dobby has heard Dumbledore's powers rival those of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named at the height of his strength. But, miss"-Dobby's voice dropped to an urgent whisper-"there are powers Dumbledore doesn't... Powers no decent wizard... "

Dobby made a move to bounce of the bed but Aileen captured him in her arms, holding him close to her chest so he could not harm himself. "Dobby," Aileen said quietly but forcefully, immediately the elf stopped his struggles. "For as long as you are in my house you are not to punish yourself am I understood?" Aileen demanded sharply.

"I understand, miss." Dobby whispered.

"Good," Aileen loosened her grip on the house-elf but did not completely let him go. "Dobby, I know you're worried about me but I have to go to Hogwarts, it's my home and it's the only place I have friends."

"Friends who don't even write to Aileen Potter?" said Dobby slyly.

Aileen frowned slightly at that. "How do you know my friends haven't been writing to me?"

Dobby shuffled his feet. "Aileen Potter mustn't be angry with Dobby. Dobby did it for the best... "

"Have you been stopping my letters? Where you the one to hurt Hedwig?"

"Dobby has them here, miss," said Dobby.

Jumping nimbly out of Aileen's arms, he pulled a thick wad of envelopes from the inside of the pillowcase he was wearing; Aileen could make out Hermione's neat writing, Ron's untidy scrawl, and even a scribble that looked to be fromthe Hogwarts game-keeper, Hagrid. Dobby blinked anxiously up at Aileen.

"Aileen Potter mustn't be angry... Dobby hoped... If Aileen Potter thought her friends had forgotten her... Aileen Potter might not want to go back to school, miss..."

Aileen closed her eyes and took a deep breath before opening them again and kneeling in front of Dobby. "Dobby just because I didn't receive my friend's letters does not mean I would not go to Hogwarts. It is just as dangerous for me here as it is there. But the difference is, while at Hogwarts I have help and support but while here I am on my own." She spoke softly, keeping her voice gentle like she was talking to a child. "My friends must be very worried about me if they have sent that many letters and not gotten a reply."

"Aileen Potter will have them, miss, if she gives Dobby her word that she will not return to Hogwarts. Miss, this is a danger you must not face! Say you won't go back, miss!"

"No," saidAileenrecognising the magical oath behind the young elf's words. "I will swear no such thing."

"Then Aileen Potter leaves Dobby no choice," said the elf sadly.

Before Aileen could react or think of grabbing Dobby again, he had dashed out of her bedroom door and headed down the stairs. Her heart beating wildly in fear, Aileen silently sprang after him. She knew the stair's well, so she jumped the last six to avoid the creaking stair, and landed catlike on the carpet.

From the dining room she heard Vernon saying: "...Tell Petunia that very funny story about those American plumbers, Mr. Mason. She's been dying to hear..."

Aileen ran up the hall into the kitchen and felt her stomach disappear. The pudding she had spent so long making was floating up near the ceiling. On top of a cupboard in the corner crouched Dobby directing it with his finger.

"No," croaked Aileen. "Please... They'll kill me..."

"Aileen Potter must say she's not going back to school-"

"I can't!"

Dobby gave her a tragic look. "Then Dobby must do it, sir, for Aileen Potter's own good."

The puddingbegan its decent but Aileen closed her eyes and felt a tug in her stomach. When she opened her eyes it was too see that water had come from the sink and caught the cake before it could hit the floor. Aileen stepped forward and grabbed the cake but she lost concentration and the water fell to the floor with a splash. Once the pudding was safe Aileen looked up to see that Dobby had vanished.

Aileen grabbed a mop and started cleaning but the Dursley's had obviously heard something for they entered the kitchen with the Mason's behind them. Thinking quickly Aileen made a frightened 'eep' like noise and scuttled back from the doorway. With her head bowed, her long hair covering her face, she looked like a frightened young child.

"I'm sorry to disturb your dinner, uncle. I was trying to clean the water up before you were finished, but there was more than I anticipated." She said softly before anyone else could speak.

"Where did the water come from?" Petunia demanded, carefully stepping into the room and looking over the mess.

"The washing machine. I couldn't hear it running so I came down to check and found a large puddle of water." Aileen's eyes darted to the Mason's.

"Who is this, Vernon?" Mr Mason asked, both of them looking at Aileen worriedly.

Aileen pretended to shrink back under their gaze, moving the mop as though to shield herself from their eyes. If she was going to get away with this she might as well play it up.

"My wife's nieces." Vernon grunted.

"And why wasn't the poor dear joining us for dinner?" Mrs Mason asked.

"She don't like strangers." Dudley grunted, catching on to what Aileen was trying to do. It seemed he had grown some brains over the school year and realised that if anyone found out what happens to Aileen in their home, his parents would be sent to jail.

"She asked to be excused from dinner tonight. Since she would be too scared to talk or eat anything we allowed her to go to her room before you arrived." Petunia explained, picking up where her son left off.

"Do you want me to continue cleaning the kitchen, Uncle?" Aileen asked, not moving from her cowering position behind the mop.

"Don't be silly dear, come join us." Mrs Mason tried to encourage her.

"It's alright, you can join us for after dinner tea." Petunia spoke up before Vernon could. Petunia always was the smarter one of the two, and now that both Petunia and Mrs Mason had asked her to join them, Vernon couldn't say no and send her too her room.

"Yes your aunt's right, the kitchen can be dealt with later. It's dry enough for your aunt to make tea without slipping." Vernon grunted shuffling everyone back into the living room.

Aileen kept up her act for the next two hours. She sat stiffly in the seat furthest from the Mason's, barely engaged in the conversation unless asked a direct question, didn't look anyone in the eye and just sipped lightly at a cup of tea while hiding behind her hair (beyond grateful that she had unbound it while talking with Dobby).

It was just after Vernon had sealed the deal and the Masons had left that Aileen's day got worse. A huge barn owlwith the ministry crest swooped through the dining room window, dropped a letter in front of Aileen, and swooped out again.

"Read it!" Vernon hissed, pointing at the letter. He had been holding back his anger since he found Aileen in the kitchen but without the Mason's there he had no one to restrain him. "Go on - read it!"

Aileen picked it up and pushing her anger at the stupid ministry officials aside for the moment in face of the very real threat to her life that was standing over her angrily.

Dear Miss Potter,

We have received intelligence that a Hover Charm was used at your place of residence this evening at twelve minutes past nine. As you know, underage wizards are not permitted to perform spells outside school, and further spell-work on your part may lead to expulsion from said school (Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery, 1875, Paragraph C). We would also ask you to remember that any magical activity that risks notice by members of the non-magical community (Muggles) is a serious offense under section 13 of the International Confederation of Warlocks' Statute of Secrecy.

Enjoy your holidays!

Yours sincerely,

Mafalda Hopkins

IMPROPER USE OF MAGIC OFFICE

Ministry of Magic

Aileenlooked up from the letterand saw that Vernon had been getting angrier with each word read.

He was bearing down on Aileen like a great bulldog, all his teeth bared. "I've got news for you, Girl... I'm locking you up... You're never going back to that school... Never... And if you try and magic yourself out - they'll expel you!" And laughing like a maniac, he dragged Aileen down to the basement.

Vernon was as bad as his word. The following morning, he made Aileen fit steel bars on her own bedroom window _._ He himself fitted a cat flap in the bedroom door, so that small amounts of food could be pushed inside once a dayif she was lucky. They let Aileen out to use the bathroom morning and evening. Otherwise, she was locked in her room around the clock.

The first day Aileen spent locked in her room she grabbed some paper that had been left and began writing a letter to the ministry. It read:

DearMafalda Hopkins,

IMPROPER USE OF MAGIC OFFICE, Ministry of Magic

I am writing to you in response to a letter received from yourself at twenty five minutes past ten on the 31st July in regards to the casting of a Hover Charm at twelve minutes past nine on the same night. The spell was not cast by myself, but rather an uninvited House-Elf who had intruded in my home. No spell was cast from my wand, which was not on my person at the time of the spell being cast. The last time a spell was cast from my wand was June 30th on the last day of school. The spells cast that day, in order of most recent were:

The Levitation Charm (Wingardium Leviosa)

The Cleaning Charm (Tergeo)

A Counter Spell (Finite Incantatem)

Cheering charm (Divino)

I am aware that the ministry is capable of recording who has cast what spell and when while under the age of seventeen and outside of magically strong areas. The fact that this mistake has been made has reflected most poorly on your staff, who should have more carefully checked before sending a warning about magic use – especially to someone who lives in a non-magical area. If you need further proof about the last spells cast from my wand, than a Ministry Representative can find me at my place of residence:

4 Privet Drive

Surry

For the next three days. I do hope that the accusation of casting a spell in my relative's home will be removed from my record once this misunderstanding has been cleared up.

With Regards,

Aileen Potter

Heiress to House Potter

Aileen made a copy of the letter so that she had proof of verification encase the casting of the spell came up in the future. Two days after she sent that letter she received a reply fromMafalda Hopkins that consisted of an apology and a promise that the Hover Charm will be removed from her record. Aileen also kept this letter as proof.

Three daysafter being locked up andVernon was showing no sign of relenting. Aileen couldn't see any way out of her situation. She lay on her bed watching the sun sinking behind the bars on the window and wondered what was going to happen to her. Would Ron or Hermione get their parent's to check on her? Would Dumbledore send someone to make sure she was alright if she didn't show for the first day of school? Would her dad find out and come and get her?

Dobby might have saved Aileen from horrible happenings at Hogwarts, but the way things were going, she'd probably starve to death(she had discovered that her food supply would only last her another five days even if she continued rationing as she had been)or die of blood lose anyway.

The cat-flap rattled and Petunias hand appeared, pushing a bowl of canned soup into the room. Aileen sighed, rolled of the bed and picked it up. The soupwas only slightly warm, she drank half of it in one gulpthen placed the rest on the bedside table for later. She was lucky that Hedwig was outside the house so she could hunt – which was also how Aileen sent her letter to the Ministry (tying the letter to Hedwig through the bars on the window).

Aileen grabbed the last book from the shelf and began reading. It was a Grim's Brothers tale. Ever since Madam Pomfrey had given her glasses it had been easier for her to read things but she noticed that the words still shifted and doubled up so she was forced to read everything slower than most people. After finishing the first story in the collection Aileen was horrified that the Dursley's actually brought this for their son.

The room was growing dark. Exhausted, stomach rumbling, Aileen fell sleep.

She dreamt of her half-brother. Aileen wasn't sure why, but sometimes her dreams would seem to take on the events of someone's life. She normally dreamt of either her little brother, or a daughter of Zeus - Thalia. But she had other dreams like this not related to the two, but they never really made sense and so they were pushed to the back of her memory.

It had been awhile she her last dream of the young boy, so Aileen smiled softly and relaxed as she watched. Her half-brother's name was Percy and he was six years old. From what she knew of her previous dreams he would be seven on the 18th of August. His mother was a kind hearted, go-getter, red headed women by the name of Sally Jackson. However he had a stepfather, Gabe Ugliano, who from the few times she had seen him was a complete ass, who smelled, drank and gambled.

It seemed that her little brother was at a beach somewhere with his mother. She watched them play in the shallows of the ocean for a while, laughing and just having fun like a family should. After a couple of hours Sally wrapped Percy in a towel and they went back to their small beach hut and had burgers with salad followed by sweets for desert.

The sweets, much to Aileen's amusement, where all blue. It was a new development that she noticed in her last few dreams, whenever she could, Sally would serve blue food. Blue corn chips, blue sweets, blue cake, blueberries, Atlantic lobsters, Blue Crawdads, Starflowers and Prunus spinosa are just a few of the foods she knew of that Sally had cooked (although the two fishes did not remain blue after being cooked). When she couldn't get naturally blue foods, Sally would add food die. Aileen wasn't entirely sure why Sally, and now Percy, had a fascination with blue foods but she was pretty sure that someone told Sally that blue foods didn't exist.

Aileen woke from her dream with a soft smile on her face (like always when she was dreaming of her little brother). Moonlight was shining through the bars on the window. And someone was staringthrough the bars at her: a freckled faces, red aired, long nosed someone:

Ron Weasley was outside Aileen's window.

"Ron!" breathed Aileen, creeping to the window and pushing it up so they could talk through the bars. "Ron, how did you – what the?" Aileen blinked in shock as she realised what exactly she was seeing. Ron was leaning out of the back window of an old turquoise car, which was parked in mid-air. Grinning at Aileen from the front seat were Fred and George, Ron's elder twin brothers.

"All right, Aileen?" asked George.

"What's been going on?" asked Ron. "Why haven't you been answering my letters? I've asked you to stay about twelve times, and then Dad came home and said you'd got an official warning for using magic in front of Muggles."

"It wasn't me and how did he know?" Aileen asked, leaning lightly against the window as her legs tried giving out on her. She didn't want her friends to know how bad her home life was, and if she suddenly collapsed she was sure that (at the very least) Fred and George would put two and two together to get four.

"He works for the ministry," said Ron. "You know we're not supposed to do spells outside of school-"

"I've already told you it wasn't me, and where did you get that?" Aileen asked noddingat the floating car.

"Oh, this doesn't count," said Ron. "We're only borrowing this. It's Dad's, we didn't enchant it. But doing magic in front of those Muggles you live with-"

"I told you, I didn't do any magic – but it'll take too long to explain now; why are you here? What if one of the neighbours wakes up and sees you?"

"Stop gibbering," said Ron _,_ not seeming to care that the non-magicals he is surrounded by might wake up. However, Fred and George seemed to have recognised the problem and Fred pressed something on the dashboard that seemed to quieten the engine. Didn't make it so she couldn't hear it at all, but it was enough to make sure that someone wouldn't wake up from the roar of the engine."We've come to take you home with us."

"How are you going to do that without magic or waking up my neighbours by making noise?"

"We don't need to," said Ron, jerking his head towards the front seat and grinning. "You forgot who I've got with me." Ron said once again ignoring the mention of her neighbours.

"Tie that around the bars," said George, throwing the end of a rope to Aileen.

"If the Dursley's wake up," Aileen warnedas she tied the rope tightly around two bars using a figure of eight note in the middleand Fred revved the engine _._

"Don't worry," said Fred, "And stand back."

Aileen moved back into the shadows of her room, adrenaline causing threw her system enough to keep her standing. Her body was used to fighting despite injuries so with the fear and adrenaline flowing, she would be well enough to hide her injuries from the Weasley for the next hour or so. The car revved again and again and then, with a crunching noise, the bars were pulled clean out of the window as Fred drove straight up in the air. Aileen moved back to the window to see the bars dangling a few feet above the ground, panting, Ron hoisted them up into the car. Aileen strained her ears,listeninganxiously, but there was no sound from the Dursley's bedroom. When the bars were safely in the back seat with Ron, Fred reversed as close as possible to Aileen's window.

"Get in," Ron said.

"I can't all my Hogwarts stuff, my broomstick and books," Aileen shook her head.

"Where is it?" Ron asked.

"Locked in the cupboard under the stairs,and my bedroom door has been locked _,_ I can't get out."

"No problem," said George from the front passenger seat.

"Out of the way, Aileen." Fred said as he pressed another button on the dashboard _._

Fred and George climbed catlike through the window into Aileen's room. You had to hand it to them, thought Aileen, as George took an ordinary hairpin from his pocket and started to pick the lock, they were very good at taking the initiative.

"A lot of wizards think it's a waste of time, knowing this sort of Muggle trick," said Fred,

"But we feel they're skills worth learning, even if they are a bit slow." There was a small click and the door swung open.

"So - we'll get your trunk - you grab anything you need from your room and hand it out to Ron," whispered George.

"Watch out for the bottom stair - it creaks," Aileen whispered back as the twins disappeared onto the dark landing.

Aileen knelt next to her bed and grabbed her dagger and wand, both of which she strapped to her leg. Then she grabbed her father's invisibility cloak, her photo album and the book she had been reading and passed them to Ron. Then she went to help Fred and George heave her trunk up the stairs. Aileen heard Vernon cough. At last, they reached the landing, then carried the trunk through Aileen's room to the open window. Fred climbed back into the car to pull with Ron, and Aileen and George pushed from the bed-room side. Inch by inch, the trunk slid through the window. Vernon coughed again.

"A bit more," panted Fred, who was pulling from inside the car. "One good push-" Aileen and George threw their shoulders against the trunk and it slid out of the window into the backseat of the car.

"Okay, let's go," George whispered.

But as Aileen climbed onto the windowsill her left ankle caught on a protruding nail and she hissed in pain and Hedwig, who had landed on the roof of the car, screeched in worry; this was followed immediately by the thunder of Vernon's voice.

"THAT RUDDY OWL!"

She pulled the nail out of her foot as the landing light clicked on. She was half in the car when Vernon hammered on the unlocked door and it crashed open. For a split second, Vernon stood framed in the doorway; then he let out a bellow like an angry bull and dived at Aileen, grabbing her by the ankle _–_ her injured one. Ron and George seized one of Aileen'sarmswhile Fred wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled as hard as they could.

"Petunia!" roared Uncle Vernon. "She's getting away! SHE'S GETTING AWAY!" But the Weasleys gave a gigantic tug, Aileen's ankles snapped and her leg slid out of Vernon's grasp. As soon as Aileen was in the car they slammed the door shut, Ron yelled:

"Put your foot down, Fred!" and the car shot suddenly towards the moon.

The Weasleys roared with laughter and Aileen settled back in her seat, being careful of her ankle which she will need to bandage when they landed _._

Aileen looked out the window to see Hedwig soaring joyfully alongside them like a ghost.

"So - what's the story, Aileen?" said Ron impatiently. "What's been happening?"

Aileen told them all about Dobby, the warning he'd given Aileen and the fiasco of the pudding (not mentioning the part where she caught the pudding with her ability to manipulate water since it gave such a big clue away as to her actual heritage which was trying her best to keep a secret). There was a long, shocked silence when she had finished. Not even the twins could think of something to say at first.

"Very fishy," said Fred finally.

"Definitely dodgy" agreed George.

"So he wouldn't even tell you who's supposed to be plotting all this stuff?" Ron asked.

"I don't think he could," Aileen admitted. "I told you, every time he got close to letting something slip; he attempted to hurt himself." She saw Fred and George look at each other. "What? You think he was lying to me?" asked Aileen having noticed the suspicious undertone to the look.

"Well," said Fred, "put it this way - house-elves have got powerful magic of their own, but they can't usually use it without their master's permission. I reckon old Dobby was sent to stop you coming back to Hogwarts. Someone's idea of a joke. Can you think of anyone at school with a grudge against you?"

"Yes," Ron saidinstantly.

"Draco Malfoy," Aileen explained, at their confused looks and understanding who Ron was talking about."We have had many altercations throughout last year."

"Draco Malfoy?" said George, turning around. "Not Lucius Malfoy's son?"

"Must be, it's not a very common name, is it?" said Aileen. "Why?"

"I've heard Dad talking about him," said George. "He was a big supporter of You-Know-Who."

"And when You-Know-Who disappeared," said Fred, craning around to look at Aileen, "Lucius Malfoy came back saying he'd never meant any of it. Load of dung - Dad reckons he was right in You-Know-Who's inner circle."

"Fred, eyes on the sky," Aileen snapped. They may not have to worry about cars but that didn't mean Fred should be turning round like that.

"Yes ma'am." Fred answered while George saluted for him.

Aileen sat back thoughtfully. She hadhad heard the rumours about Malfoy's family before, and they didn't surprise her at all. Draco Malfoy wasn't particularly subtitle at voicing his teachings. But, she had a feeling that in time she might be able to get through to the younger boy. And she defiantly did not think that he would have gone through the trouble of sending his house-elf to stop her from getting to Hogwarts – why would he want to?

"I don't know whether the Malfoys own a house-elf..." saidAileen began hesitantly. She didn't think that Dobby had been sent to her with malicious intention, his words and actions and been truthful and the way he had reacted when she asked if his master's knew he was there, wasn't an act. He truly was going to punish himself for visiting her despite the fact that his owners didn't even know he had left.

"Well, whoever owns him will be an old wizarding family, and they'll be rich," Fred explained their reasoning.

"Yeah, Mum's always wishing we had a house-elf to do the ironing," said George.

"But all we've got is a lousy old ghoul in the attic and gnomes all over the garden."

"House-elves come with big old manors and castles and places like that; you wouldn't catch one in our house... "

"I'm glad we came to get you, anyway," said Ron. "I was getting really worried when you didn't answer any of my letters. I thought it was Errol's fault at first-"

"Errol?" Aileenasked,recognising the name from somewhere but not sure were.

"Our owl. He's ancient. It wouldn't be the first time he'd collapsed on a delivery. So then I tried to borrow Hermes."

"Who?"Aileen asked having only heard that name in relation to the god of Messages and Travel.

"The owl Mum and Dad bought Percy when he was made prefect," said Fred from the front.

"But Percy wouldn't lend him to me," said Ron. "Said he needed him."

"Percy's been acting very oddly this summer," said George, frowning in concern. Their older brother had led the twin borrow his owl during the school term, but had suddenly decided not to let them borrow him during the summer. It was odd, and unusual, behaviour for their brother. "And he has been sending a lot of letters and spending a load of time shut up in his room... I mean, there's only so many times you can polish a prefect badge... You're driving too far west, Fred," he added, pointing at a compass on the dashboard. Fred twiddled the steering wheel.

"So, does your dad know you've got the car?" said Aileen, guessing the answer.

"Er, no," said Ron, "he had to work tonight. Hopefully we'll be able to get it back in the garage without Mum noticing we flew it."

Aileen raised a doubtful eyebrow at that, from what she had heard about Mrs Weasley she would be more than aware of the fact the car was taken long before they make it to their house, but decided not to say anything _._ "What does your dad do at the Ministry of Magic, anyway?"

"He works in the most boring department," said Ron. "The Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office."

"What does he do?" Aileen repeated looking for more specific answers then just a title that only let her know his work was something to do with Muggles.

"It's all to do with bewitching things that are Muggle-made, you know, in case they end up back in a Muggle shop or house. Like, last year, some old witch died and her tea set was sold to an antiques shop. This Muggle woman bought it, took it home, and tried to serve her friends tea in it. It was a nightmare - Dad was working overtime for weeks. "

"What happened?" Aileen asked intrigued about how the tea set could be enchanted _._

"The teapot went berserk and squirted boiling tea all over the place and one man ended up in the hospital with the sugar tongs clamped to his nose. Dad was going frantic - it's only him and an old warlock called Perkins in the office - and they had to do Memory Charms and all sorts of stuff to cover it up -"

"But ifyour dadenforces the law about enchanting objects why did he enchantthis car?" Aileen asked confused. She was always wondering why such an important sounding job was so understaffed.

"Yeah, Dad's crazy about everything to do with Muggles; our shed's full of Muggle stuff. He takes it apart, puts spells on it, and puts it back together again. If he raided our house he'd have to put himself under arrest. It drives Mum mad." Fred laughed _._

"That's the main road," said George, peering down through the windshield. "We'll be there in ten minutes... Just as well, it's getting light..." George added in concern. They had snuck out with the car before, hidden by clouds and the rankness, but they hadn't thought they would be breaking Aileen out of her relative's house.

A faint pinkish glow was visible along the horizon to the east. Fred brought the car lower, and Aileen saw a dark patchwork of fields and clumps of trees.

"We're a little way outside the village," said George. "Ottery St. Catchpole."

Lower and lower went the flying car. The edge of a brilliant red sun was now gleaming through the trees.

"Touchdown!" Fred warned moments before they hit the ground with a light bump.

Fred parked the car next to what appeared to be a hybrid garage-shed, which looked to have seen better days with its battered metal frame. The actual Weasley house looks like it had seen better days. The base and second floor of the house seemed to be solid, sound wooden structure. Aileen figured that as the size of the family increased, Arthur had more rooms added on top but he didn't have the funds or knowledge to do it any other way then he did. The upper floors were crooked and seemed to be constructed from a combination of wood, stone and metal. Aileen figured that the only thing keeping the slightly crooked structure together was magic.

Outside the house, proudly displayed by the entrance, was a sign which read 'The Burrow'. Mr Weasley seemed to have made uses of old wellington boots and cauldrons by turning them into flower pots which were running along the outside of the house by the door. There were also several fat chickens loitering around the yard, looking for any remains of food from the day before since it was probably still too early for them to have been fed breakfast.

"It's not much," Ron mumbled in embarrassment when he saw that Aileen was staring around his home.

"It's wonderful," Aileen tried reassuring her friend with a smile and the truthfulness in the statement. A home was where your heart was, it was not meant to be for show. It was obvious that there was a lot of love in the house, and she didn't care that it was held together by magic. It was unique and in a way represented how she saw the , loved, well-cared, close-nit, full of magic and wonder.

They all got out of the car, Aileen being careful of how much weight she put through her left ankle. She would need to get to her trunk and bandage it properly before anyone noticed that she was hurt. She could only hid the injury for so long before it was noticed and she didn't want this kind hearted family becoming any more suspicious about her home life before she could find a way to safely remove herself from the situation and a place to stay.

"Now, we'll go upstairs really quietly," said Fred, "and wait for Mum to call us for breakfast. Then, Ron, you come bounding downstairs going, `Mum, look who turned up in the night!' and she'll be all pleased to see Aileen and no one need ever know we flew the car."

"Right," said Ron. "Come on, Aileen, I sleep at the -" Ron had gone a nasty greenish colour, his eyes fixed on the house.

The other three wheeled around. Mrs. Weasley was marching across the yard, scattering chickens, and for a short, plump, kind-faced woman, it was remarkable how much she looked like a sabre-toothed tiger as she bared down on them.

"Ah," said Fred.

"Oh, dear," said George.

Mrs. Weasley came to a halt in front of them, her hands on her hips, staring from one guilty face to the next. She was wearing a flowered apron with a wand sticking out of the pocket. "So, "she said.

"Morning, Mum," said George in a jaunting voice, distracting her from their guest who was starting to pale in the face of their mother's anger. From the way Aileen's uncle had reacted to them taking her away, and the way he had shouted, he could understand why their mother's furious disposition would be disconcerting. Especially since this was only the third time they had met. Fred shifted slightly so that Aileen was half hidden behind him as he knew that it wouldn't be long before their mother broke and started shouting.

"Have you any idea how worried I've been?" said Mrs. Weasley in a deadly whisper.

"Sorry, Mum, but see, we had to -"Ron tried to explain _._

All three of Mrs. Weasley's sons were taller than she was, but they cowered as her rage broke over them. "Beds empty! No note! Car gone - could have crashed - out of my mind with worry - did you care? - never, as long as I've lived - you wait until your father gets home, we never had trouble like this from Bill or Charlie or Percy-"

"Perfect Percy," muttered Fred obviously annoyed at being compared to his elder brothers once again. He didn't mind so much with Bill and Charlie since their mother rarely compared them, but she had done nothing by compare the twins to Percy since they had got back from school and he was really starting to resent it. George silently agreed with his brother, but he knew now wasn't the time to say anything.

"YOU COULD DO WITH TAKING A LEAF OUT OF PERCY'S BOOK!" yelled Mrs. Weasley, prodding a finger in Fred's chest. "You could have died, you could have been seen; you could have lost your father his job -"

It seemed to go on for hours. Mrs. Weasley had shouted herself hoarse before she turned on Aileen, who stepped more fully behind Fred for protection. "I'm very pleased to see you, Aileen, dear," she said. "Come in and have some breakfast."

She turned and walked back into the house. Aileen hesitated, looking for reassurance from the Weasley brothers before she followed by the fuming women. Aileen had never been inside a house other than the Dursley's before (even when helping out the residence of her neighbourhood she didn't actually get invited into houses) and more importantly, she had never been inside a wizarding house before. She was sure that with the help of magic, the home more easily reflected the unique of the people in side it.

Since the Weasley were a family of nine, the kitchen was comparatively small with beaten but sturdy wooden tables and chairs. Aileen figured it could easily fit six, maybe seven at a push, comfortably but Aileen had no idea how they managed completely family dinners especially if relatives or friends came over. From her awkward perched on the chair she had been ordered into Aileen took in the rest of the room.

There two unique clocks on the wall that made Aileen's heart tight at the love and family orientated heart of the house. The first one only had the one hand and pointed to things that Aileen figured was a common place occurrences in the family and probably prompted Mrs Weasley when she was distracted with something her children had done. It had reminders such time to make tea, time to feed the chickens and time to relax (the last of which looked to have been added by someone else, and not the one who had made the other labels. Aileen figured it was either Mr Weasley or one of the kids, reminding their mother that she should take time for herself too). The other clock had nine hands on it with a face of each member of the family on it. Around the edges of it were different labels such as at home, at work and mortal peril. At the moment three of the hands were one the passion 'at work' while the remaining six where pointed 'at home'.

On the wall above the fireplace was a precession of pictures which seemed to start with the day Molly and Arthur got married, and showed her pregnant with each of her children and various stages through their lives as they grew up. Not one child appeared more often than another, and there was lots of group photos – rare was there a photo of just one child outside of the years before Charlie was born and baby pics. Aileen hoped that maybe she would one day have a wall like this for her own family. Stacked on the mantelpiece (probably because there wasn't room for a bookcase and they seemed to be the ones Mrs Weasley used most often) where books with interesting and useful titles such as Charm Your Own Cheese, Enchantment in Baking, and One Minute Feasts-It's Magic! Aileen made a mental note to see if she borrow a couple, figuring they would be useful if she finally got a place of her own and didn't want to cook the normal way.

It seemed the house was never quite, because Mrs Weasley had the radio on a playing a station which announced itself to be 'witching hour'. If Mrs Weasley always got up early in the morning to begin her chores, Aileen figured having the radio on probably helped her focus and keep up to date on the news before the prophet arrived.

Aileen's attention was brought back to the Weasley family as Mrs Weasley began clattering around the kitchen, making more noise than necessary (and probably waking her other children up) while she threw dirty looks at her sons and muttering loudly enough for them to heart thing like: "Don't know what you were thinking of," and "Never would have believed it." Aileen found retched about getting them in trouble, but at least she was cooking breakfast for her children despite her anger.

"I don't blame you, dear," she assured Aileen, tipping eight or nine sausages onto her plate (Aileen withheld her horrified look at the amount only through shear will and practise). "Arthur and I have been worried about you, too. Just last night we were saying we'd come and get you ourselves if you hadn't written back to Ron by Friday. But really," (she was now adding three fried eggs to her plate) "flying an illegal car halfway across the country - anyone could have seen you-" She flicked her wand casually at the dishes in the sink, which began to clean themselves, clinking gently in the background.

"It was cloudy, Mum!" said Fred, frowning in annoyance that his mother wasn't believing them about something so important. The twins didn't mind being punished for something they have done (like their pranks) but something like this, were they have helped someone, they didn't believe they should be punished for. And if they had known their parents were planning on getting her they wouldn't have acted as they did, but every time they brought up their concerns they were dismissed as unimportant and not something they should be worrying about because they were sure that Aileen was fine.

"You keep your mouth closed while you're eating!" Mrs. Weasley snapped, not even turning around to see if Fred had been talking with his food in his mouth (which he hadn't).

"They were starving her, Mum!" said George, taking up the defence of their actions.

Aileen took the distraction the twins were providing to start shimming some of her food off to the three Weasley sons. They didn't say anything, they all knew that she didn't like eating greasy foods and she was being served a full English breakfast. That and they knew that Aileen didn't have the same appetite they did and wouldn't have been able to eat even half the food on her plate, let alone all of it.

"And you!" Mrs Weasley added sharply to George, making it clear that she wasn't going to be listening to anything they had to say – no matter how true it was.

Aileen was mildly embarrassed they had figured that out, but she knew the twins where smarter than they let on. Ron opened it his mouth, most likely to help defend their actions, but they were interrupted by a diversion in the shape of a small, redheaded girl in a long nightdress. She appeared for barely a moment – looking like she wanted to ask her mother something – because she spotted Aileen at the table, gave a mortified sounding squeal, and ran back up the stairs.

"Ginny," Ron explained in an undertone so as to not catch his mother's attention. "My sister. She's been talking about you all summer."

Life at the Burrow was as different as possible from life on Privet Drive. The Dursley liked everything neat and ordered; the Weasley's house burst with the strange and unexpected. Aileen preferred the Weasley's house because it was more homely and lived in _._ The ghoul in the attic howled and dropped pipes whenever he felt things were getting too quiet, andthe small explosions from Fred and George's bedroom were considered perfectly normal.

Aileen slept in the same room as Ginny. Who, after the first few nights, stopped being shy around her. By the second week Aileen and Ginny were quite good friends. Aileen was always up early in the morning and helped Mrs Weasley in the kitchen despite the older women's protests. She also spoke with Mr Weasley about many different types of non-magical things and how they worked.

Because of Mr Weasley's lake of knowledge on non-magical items she decided to write two books: 'Mundane Inventions and How to Use Them' and 'How to Act Like a Mundane.' Mr Weasley worked in a department that meant he had direct access to non-magicals and their inventions and yet he knew very little about them. With her books she hoped to help educate the wizarding world on non-magicals and how to fit in. It also gave her a way of expressing her distaste over the term 'Muggle.' A term that she had found the origins of while she was reading the book on Hecate – it was originally an insult to those not blessed by the goddess.

She also figured she could do the opposite and write a book about the wizarding world, all the things she was learning and the things that had tripped her up. She figured that since she was writing from the perspective of someone who was mundane raised, she would include more information than someone who was writing a similar book and was wizarding raised. However, the wizarding introduction book would have to wait for her to have more experience in the wizarding world and for her to find someone who was willing to go other the information and include other useful facts.

The Weasley children and Aileen heard from Hogwarts about a week after she arrived at the Burrow. Aileen had just come down after waking up the boys for breakfast (they always slept in as long as they could get away with and her waking them was much nicer than the shouting from Mrs Weasley) when Mr Weasley spoke.

"Letters from school," he said, passing Aileen and Ron identical envelopes of yellowish parchment, addressed in green ink. There were four other letters, identical to theirs, in a pile next to Mr Weasley. Aileen guessed they were Percy, Fred and George's supply letters and Ginny's acceptance letter.

"Dumbledore already knows you're here, Aileen - doesn't miss a trick, that man." Mrs Weasley added with a smile as she started dishing up.

"You two've got them, too," Mr Weasley added, as Fred and George ambled in, still in their pyjamas (since Percy, Aileen and Ron used the shower before breakfast, Ginny, Fred and George agreed to use it after breakfast. Then they flipped the next day).

For a few minutes there was silence as they all read their letters. Aileen's told her to catch the Hogwarts Express as usual from King's Cross station on September first. There was also a list of the new books she'd need for the coming year.

SECOND-YEAR STUDENTS WILL REQUIRE:

The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2 by Miranda Goshawk

Break with a Banshee by Gilderoy Lockhart

Gadding with Ghouls by Gilderoy Lockhart

Holidays with Hags by Gilderoy Lockhart

Travels with Trolls by Gilderoy Lockhart

Voyages with Vampires by Gilderoy Lockhart

Wanderings with Werewolves by Gilderoy Lockhart

Year with the Yeti by Gilderoy Lockhart

Fred, who had finished his own list, peered over at Aileen's. "You've been told to get all Lockhart's books, too!" he announced horrified. "The new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher must be a fan - bet it's a witch." At this point, Fred caught his mother's eye and quickly busied himself with the marmalade.

"That lot won't come cheap," George said, worried about how this was going to set the family back. "Lockhart's books are really expensive..."

"Well, we'll manage," said Mrs. Weasley, but she looked worried. "I expect we'll be able to pick up a lot of Ginny's things second hand."

"Ginny can have my books from last year." Aileen piped up. "That way you only need to buy her defence books." Aileen said peering at her list.

"Yeah, and me and George can share." Fred added.

"It makes sense since we're always together." George agreed.

"Thanks boys." Mr Weasley told his son's gratefully as Mrs Weasley turned to Aileen.

"Are you sure dear, won't you need them for your notes?" Mrs Weasley asked frowning worriedly.

"I'm sure, I have all the notes I need written on parchment." Aileen assured her.

"Thanks!" Ginny smiled brightly. "Your books will be in much better condition than anything we could have brought."

"I've also added some useful notes to the margins that should help with your homework assignments." Aileen smiled at Ginny.

Ginny was about to answer when Percy walked in. He was already dressed, his Hogwarts prefect badge pinned to his sweater vest.

"Morning, all," said Percy briskly. "Lovely day."

He sat down in the only remaining chair but leapt up again almost immediately, pulling from underneath him a moulting, grey feather duster - at least, that was what it looked like at first, until she saw that it was breathing.

"Errol!" said Ron, taking the limp owl from Percy and extracting a letter from under its wing. "Finally - he's got Hermione's answer. I wrote to her saying we were going to try and rescue you from the Dursleys. "

He carried Errol to a perch just inside the back door and tried to stand him on it, but Errol flopped straight off again so Ron lay him on the draining board instead, muttering, "Pathetic. "

Then he ripped open Hermione's letter and read it out loud:

"Dear Ron, and Aileen if you're there,

I hope everything went all right and that Aileen is okay and that you didn't do anything illegal to get her out, Ron, because that would get Aileen into trouble, too. I've been really worried and if Aileen is all right, will you please let me know at once, but perhaps it would be better if you used a different owl because I think another delivery might finish your one off. I'm very busy with schoolwork, of course -

"How can she be?" said Ron in horror. "We're on vacation!"

"I finished my homework the first two nights of my stay." Aileen informed Ron, who after staring at her in horror for a few seconds, continued reading.

-and we're going to London next Wednesday to buy my new books. Why don't we meet in Diagon Alley? Let me know what's happening as soon as you can.

Love from Hermione. "

"Well, that fits in nicely, we can go and get all your things then, too," said Mrs. Weasley, starting to clear the table.

"What're you all up to today?" Mr Weasley asked.

Mrs. Weasley woke them all early the following Wednesday. After a quick half a dozen bacon sandwiches each, they pulled on their coats and Mrs. Weasley took a flowerpot off the kitchen mantel piece and peered inside.

"We're running low, Arthur," she sighed. "We'll have to buy some more today..." she tried to speak too quietly for the children to hear but Aileen caught every word. _"_ Well, guests first! After you, Aileen dear!" And she offered her the flowerpot.

"I've never used the Floo system before. I don't know what to do." Aileen informed them.

"Sorry, Aileen, I forgot." Ron winced apologetically.

"Never?" said Mr. Weasley. "But how did you get to Diagon Alley to buy your school things last year?"

"I went on the Underground -"

"Really?" said Mr. Weasley eagerly. "Were there escapators?"

"Escalators," Aileen automatically corrected _._

"How exactly -"

"Not now, Arthur," said Mrs. Weasley."Floo powder's a lot quicker, dear, but goodness me, if you've never used it before -"

"She'll be all right, Mum," Fred reassured, knowing how his mother could fret other the simplest things. "Aileen, watch us first."

He took a pinch of glittering powder out of the flowerpot, stepped up to the fire, and threw the powder into the flames. With a roar, the fire turned emerald green and rose higher than Fred, who stepped right into it, shouted, "Diagon Alley!" and vanished.

"You must speak clearly, dear," Mrs. Weasley told Aileen as George dipped his hand into the flowerpot. "And be sure to get out at the right grate... "

The fire roared and whipped George out of sight, too.

"There are an awful lot of wizard fires to choose from, you know, but as long as you've spoken clearly -"

"She'll be fine, Molly, don't fuss, " said Mr. Weasley, helping himself to Floo powder, too.

"But, dear, if she got lost, how would we ever explain to her aunt and uncle?"

"They wouldn't mind," Aileen reassured her. "Dudley would think it was a brilliant joke if I got lost up a chimney, don't worry about that -"

"Well... All right... You go after Arthur," said Mrs. Weasley. "Now, when you get into the fire, state clearly where you're going-"

"And keep your elbows tucked in," Ron advised.

"And your eyes shut," said Mrs. Weasley. "The soot -"

"Don't fidget," said Ron speaking over his mother. "Or you might well fall out of the wrong fireplace -"

"But don't panic and get out too early; wait until you see Fred and George."

Aileen frowned, that was contradictory. How was she supposed to wait and see Fred and George, if she had her eyes closed? She wished that there was an introductory cause for Mundane born and raised which included the practise of magical means of transport. It would make situations like this easier – and apparently less dangerous.

Ignoring her sense of unease, Aileen took some of the Floo powder and scattered it into the fire. Taking a deep breathe she stepped into the flames. The fire felt like a warm breeze around her carves and ankles. Much more pleasant in comparison to the Snape's magical ire and counter-potion.

"Diagon Alley," she said, carefully and clearly.

It felt as though she was being sucked down a giant drain. She seemed to be spinning very fast —the roaring in her ears was deafening - she tried to keep her eyes open but the whirl of green flames made her feel sick - something hard knocked her elbow and she tucked it in tightly once more. Still spinning and spinning — now with what felt as thousand cold hands were slapping her face and pulling her cloths - squinting she saw a blurred stream of fireplaces and snatched glimpses of the rooms beyond - her bacon sandwich were churning inside her - she closed her eyes again wishing it would stop, and then - she fell, face forward, onto cold stone.

Acting on instinct Aileen rolled forward the moment she felt the cold stone under her, which would have been very painful if she had just come to a sudden stop on top of it. Dizzy and bruised, covered in soot, she slowlygot to her feet,taking her glasses from her pocket (she only wore them when she was reading or outside the Dursley's/Weasley's residence so as to remind herself that they weren't something she should be taking for granted) _._

The dimly lit wizarding shop she had landed in was empty. She had never been inside the shop before and it was too dirty and dark to be located on Diagon Alley. This meant that she had gotten lost in the floo system and had no idea where she was or how to get back to the others. Looking around the shop Aileen found that there was a withered hand, bloodstained cards and a glass eye. Adding to the creepiness of the room, there were evil-looking masks staring down from the walls, an assortment of human bones on the counter and what looked like torture instruments were handing from the ceiling.

Through the filth covered window, Aileen made out the street beyond. It was dark, and made her think of an abandoned Victorian street. The buildings were towering over the narrowed street, and their blackened wood added to the dark and oppressive area. There was nothing on the street to give light, and only a narrow slit of sun light reached the cobblestones. Aileen was sure that at home time the street was a hive of life and activity but it had since fallen to ill repute.

Aileen made her way swiftly and silently toward the door, but before she'd got halfway toward it, two people appeared on the other side of the glass - and one of them was the very last person Aileen wanted to meet when she was lost and covered in soot: Draco Malfoy.

Aileen looked quickly around and spotted a large black cabinet to her left; she shot inside it and pulled the doors closed, leaving a small crack to peer through and to make sure that no enchantment in the cabinet activated. She wasn't stupid, she was obviously in a shop that sold dark and dangerous thinks and so the chance of the cabinet being harmless was practically none existent.

Moment after she was out of sight, the bell above the door clanged, signalling that the Malfoys had entered the shop. The man with Draco could be no one but his father with the way that they looked alike. They shared the same pale skin tone, pointed face and grey eyes. However, Mr Malfoy had clearly grown into his features since he looked elegant and handsome, while his son still looked slightly awkward and his features sharp.

Mr Malfoy rang a bell on the counter to let the owner know he had customers, but he turned to his son and said in a voice of warning"Touch nothing, Draco."

Malfoy, who had reached for the glass eye, said, "I thought you were going to buy me a present."

"I said I would buy you a racing broom," said his father, drumming his fingers on the counter. He was impatient and didn't particularly like the idea of his son lingering in the shop. Unfortunately, his wife had been otherwise engaged leaving him with no choice but to bring Draco with him on his errands.

Aileen's eyes narrowed as she noticed the concern in Mr Malfoy's eyes as he kept an eye on his son. All the rumours she had heard about the family being cold and heartless where clearly untrue. No matter the reason why Mr Malfoy was in such a dark shop, he clearly cared for his son and didn't want him injured carelessly.

"What's the good of that if I'm not on the House team?" said Malfoy, looking sulky and bad-tempered.

Aileen raised an eyebrow. She hadn't realised that Malfoy was jealous of her (she recognised the tone). If Malfoy made it on the team, she had no doubt that he would attempt to try and prove himself better than her about his ability to fly considering the humiliation of their first flying lesson. Aileen wouldn't mind the competition, but it wouldn't be fair on Draco if he decided to take the place of the Seeker against her on the team, when he had the built and skill of a chaser. He would be putting his skills and happiness to one side in an attempt to beat her.

"Aileen Potter got a Nimbus Two Thousand last year; special permission from Dumbledore so she could play for Gryffindor."

Aileen knew that wasn't true. The first year rule didn't apply to anyone who was on the team. It had happened in the past, when reserve players were more common because they were more likely to be from first or second year. The note in their letters about not being allowed a room, was something that the teacher's did in an attempt to reduce injury due to unsupervised flying. However, the moment she was played on the team the rule was made redundant in regards to her as it had in the past to other first years.

And the headmaster had gotten the money from her vaults to pay for the broom (something he had let her know after the stone incident when she had asked) since he was her acting magical guardian until she was off age. She was mildly annoyed that they had gotten such an expensive broom when she would have been fine with a slightly older model, but since she was planning on using it for all seven years of school, she didn't mind to much and considered the money well spent due to the friendships she had formed while on the team and the joy she felt while flying.

"She's not even that good, it's just because she's famous... Famous for having a stupid scar on her forehead..."

Although she disagreed about the comment about her not being very good (which Aileen took as another sign as the boy's jealously), she completely agreed about the famous mark. She was famous for a stupid scar on her forehead, when she was off the opinion that it should be her parents who should be famous yet people barely remembered them – it's like they were an afterthought. Yet if it wasn't for her mother Aileen had no doubt she probably wouldn't have survived that night nor the fight down in the chamber. Aileen wondered how Malfoy would react if she were to tell him her thoughts on the matter.

Malfoy bent down to examine a shelf full of skulls. "...Everyone thinks she's so smart, wonderful Potter with her scar and her broomstick-"

"You have told me this at least a dozen times already," said Mr. Malfoy, with a quelling look at his son. He was displeased with the amount of time he spent complaining about the girl, if he was a little bit older he would be wondering if his son had developed a crush on his school rival. "And I would remind you that it is not – prudent - to appear less than fond of Aileen Potter, not when most of our kind regard her as the hero who made the Dark Lord disappear - ah, Mr. Borgin."

A stooping man had appeared behind the counter, smoothing his greasy hair back from his face. "Mr. Malfoy, what a pleasure to see you again," said Mr. Borgin in a voice as oily as his hair. "Delighted - and young Master Malfoy, too - charmed. How may I be of assistance? I must show you, just in today, and very reasonably priced -"

"I'm not buying today, Mr. Borgin, but selling," Mr Malfoy cut across sharply. He had already been forced to wait longer than he would like, and he wanted to get his son out of this disgusting shop and back into Diagon Alley so he could finish his school shopping.

"Selling?" The smile faded slightly from Mr. Borgin's face.

"You have heard, of course, that the Ministry is conducting more raids," said Mr. Malfoy, taking a roll of parchment from his inside pocket and unravelling it for Mr. Borgin to read. "I have a few – ah - items at home that might embarrass me, if the Ministry were to call..." Mr. Borgin looked down the list.

"The Ministry wouldn't presume to trouble you, sir, surely?"

Mr. Malfoy's lip curled. "I have not been visited yet. The name Malfoy still commands a certain respect, yet the Ministry grows ever more meddlesome. There are rumours about a new Muggle Protection Act - no doubt that flea bitten, Muggle-loving fool Arthur Weasley is behind it-" Aileen felt a hot surge of anger on behalf of her friend's kind father. What right did this man have to insult Mr Weasley when he was doing what he thought best to help protect those who couldn't protect themselves against magic? Even if the man's political ideology ran in the opposite direction, he should be coming up with sound and fact based argument's to dispute Mr Weasley's claim, not insulting and degrading his good name. "- and as you see, certain number of these poisons might make it appear -"

"I understand, sir, of course," said Mr. Borgin. "Let me see..."

"Can I have that?" interrupted Draco, pointing at the withered hand on its cushion.

"Ah, the Hand of Glory!" said Mr. Borgin, abandoning Mr. Malfoy's list and scurrying over to Draco his inner businessman sensing a chance at profit. "Insert a candle and it gives light only to the holder! Best friend of thieves and plunderers! Your son has fine taste, sir. "

"I hope my son will amount to more than a thief or a plunderer, Borgin," said Mr. Malfoy coldly, shooting a sharp look to his son who bowed his head slightly, recognising the silent reprimand as it was.

Sensing the danger of his misspoken words, Mr Borgin hastily made to correct himself. "No offense, sir, no offense meant-"

"Though if his grades don't pick up," said Mr. Malfoy, more coldly still, "that may indeed be all he is fit for -"

Aileen was mildly confused by this reprimand. Overall Draco had come forth in transfiguration, charms and history; sixth in Herbology, fifth in astronomy and third in defence. For potions he had come second in potion's theory and first in the practical. Across their entire year, Aileen believed that he was placed fourth. Considering that in the past the top five spots were filled with Ravenclaws and that Mr Malfoy had no way of influence other people's work ethic, he should be proud of his sons placement on the overall ranking as well as his individual lessons grades.

"It's not my fault," retorted Draco. "The teachers all have favourites, that Hermione Granger-"

"I would have thought you'd be ashamed that a girl of no wizard family beat you in every exam," snapped Mr. Malfoy. Aileen smiled slightly at the fact that her genius friend was proving that just because she was born to none wizarding parents did not mean she could not beat every single one of them in exams. Despite this she was mildly horrified about the way Mr Malfoy was scolding his son for something that he couldn't change. Hermione would always be an overachiever, as proven by the fact that she wasn't beat in any of her theory exams. However, Hermione had been outscored in the practical of potions (by Draco), Herbology (by Neville) and Defence (by Aileen). Mr Malfoy should be proud that his son had obviously found an area of work that he excelled in (potions) and encouraged him in that field, not trying to stress him out in beating someone it would be very hard to knock of her top spot.

"It's the same all over," said Mr. Borgin, in his oily voice. "Wizard blood is counting for less every-where -"

"Not with me," said Mr. Malfoy, his long nostrils flaring.

"No, sir, nor with me, sir," said Mr. Borgin, with a deep bow.

"In that case, perhaps we can return to my list," said Mr. Malfoy shortly. "I am in something of a hurry, Borgin, I have important business elsewhere today -"

They started to haggle. Aileenpayed attention to the name of everything that Mr Malfoy was selling while shewatched nervously as Draco drew nearer and nearer to her hiding place, examining the objects for sale. Draco paused to examine a long coil of hangman's rope that still had blood on it and to read the card propped on a magnificent necklace of opals;

Caution: Do Not Touch. Cursed—Has Claimed the Lives of Nineteen Muggle Owners to Date.

Draco turned away and saw the cabinet right in front of him. He walked forward... He stretched out his hand for the handle...

"Done," said Mr. Malfoy at the counter. "Come, Draco-" Aileenbreathed a silent breath of relief as Draco turned away. "Good day to you, Mr. Borgin. I'll expect you at the manor tomorrow to pick up the goods."

The moment the door had closed, Mr. Borgin dropped his oily manner. "Good day yourself, Mister Malfoy, and if the stories are true, you haven't sold me half of what's hidden in your manor..." Muttering darkly, Mr. Borgin disappeared into a back room.

Not wanting to be caught by moving hastily, Aileen waiting for a moment inside the cabinet, listening for the sound of footsteps. When she was sure Borgin wasn't coming back, she slipped from the cabinet and made her way out of the shop and into the dingy alley beyond. Quickly taking in everything within her line of sight, Aileen determined that she was in an alley of illrepute that seemed to cater to the very poor and the less than legal transactions. She was sure there was a couple of legal business around the place, but not many and they probably suffered heavily by being based in such an alley.

Two shabby-looking wizards were watching her from the shadow of a doorway, muttering to each other. Feeling paranoia creep up on her,Aileen set off down the alley, straightening her back and trying to look like she knew what she was doing and where she was going. Her size and gender would work against her, but hopefully she wouldn't be approached if she made it seem like she was stronger and more confident then she felt.

Aileen had been walking for about five minutes though the twisting and narrowed streets, shaking off several tails, when she spotted a familiar large figure up ahead.

"HAGRID!" she called to catch the older man's attention and hopefully scare of the one determined pursuer she hadn't been able to loose.

"Aileen! What d'yeh think yer doin' down there?" Hagrid asked in a combination of shock and anger as he approached Aileen. Immediately Aileen felt her shadower back off, obviously deciding that she wasn't worth the fight for Hagrid.

"Floo powder."Aileen grimaced. "Could you show me the way back to Diagon?"

"Ah, this way."

And with that they silently made their way through the twisting alleyway and out into bright appeared that she hadn't been too far from the entranceway to Diagon-alley when she meat the saw a familiar, snow-white marble building in the distance - Gringotts Bank.

"Yer a mess!" said Hagrid gruffly, brushing soot off Aileen so forcefully he nearly knocked her into a barrel of dragon dung outside an apothecary. "Skulkin' around Knockturn Alley, I dunno dodgy place, Aileen - don' want no one ter see yeh down there- "

"I realized that," said Aileen, ducking as Hagrid made to brush her off again. "I was lost - what were you doing down there, anyway?" she asked in an attempt to deflect his attention away.

"I was lookin' fer a Flesh-Eatin' Slug Repellent," growled Hagrid. "They're ruinin' the school cabbages. Yer not on yer own?"

"No, I'm meant to be with the Weasleys. And we're meeting Hermione and her parent's here as well. I should probably try and fight them – the Weasley's will probably be frantic with worry by now, it's been nearly an hour since I got lost in the floo system." Aileen explained.

"Right. I'll stay with yah till we find um." Hagrid said as they took of down the street. "How come yeh never wrote back ter me?" Hagrid ask with hurt in his voice.

Wincing slightly that she hadn't thought to send a letter letting the kind man know what happened, Aileen explained as best she could about what happened with Dobby and how he was stealing her letters. Although she knew he had them, he hadn't given them back before his use of the hovering charm in an attempt to get her expelled.

"Lousy Muggles," growled Hagrid. "If I'd've known -"

"Aileen! Aileen! Over here!" Aileen looked up and saw Hermione Granger standing at the top of the white flight of steps to Gringotts. She ran down to meet them, her bushy brown hair flying behind her. "Hello, Hagrid - Oh, it's wonderful to see you two again - Are you coming into Gringotts, Aileen?"

"Not yet. I need to find the Weasleys and let them know I'm okay." Aileen answered, returning her over exuberant friends hug – beyond grateful that she had been at the Weasley's for more than a week and so had the chance to heal.

"Yeh won't have long ter wait," Hagrid said with a grin; Aileen and Hermione looked around and saw, sprinting up the crowded street were Ron, Fred, George, Percy, and Mr. Weasley.

Percy reach her first and pulled her into a quick hug. The moment he let her go, she was swept into the twin's arms as they hugged her in relief. When she was put back on her feet, Ron clasped her hand in relief that she was okay, although he had the restraint not to hug her since he noticed how much she hated the contact and she had already been hugged four times in a very short space of time (he had no doubt that Hermione had hugged her).

"Aileen," Mr. Weasley panted. "We hoped you'd only gone one grate too far..." He mopped his glistening bald patch. "Molly's frantic - she's coming now-"

"Where did you come out?" Ron asked.

"Knockturn Alley," said Hagrid grimly.

"Excellent." said Fred and George together trying not to smother Aileen any more than she already had been. Percy stayed back and silent, but he had taken up almost a guard position at her left shoulder.

"We've never been allowed in," said Ron enviously.

"I should ruddy well think not," growled Hagrid.

Mrs. Weasley now came galloping into view, her handbag swinging wildly in one hand, Ginny just clinging onto the other. "Oh, Aileen - oh, my dear - you could have been anywhere-" Gasping for breath she pulled a large clothes brush out of her bag and began sweeping off the soot Hagrid hadn't managed to beat away.

"Well, gotta be off," said Hagrid, who was having his hand wrung by Mrs. Weasley ("Knockturn Alley! If you hadn't found her, Hagrid!"). "See yer at Hogwarts!" And he strode away, head and shoulders taller than anyone else in the packed street.

"I landed in some kind of shop, I think it was called Borgin and Burkes. Before I could leave, Malfoy and his father entered." Aileen explained to her friends what had happened when they asked what had taken her so long. They were all heading to Gringotts to get some money out and she didn't want to discuss it when they were back amongst the thick crowd.

"Did Lucius Malfoy buy anything?" said Mr. Weasley sharply behind them.

"No, he was selling. I can give you a list of what he was selling later." Aileen proposed.

"So he's worried," said Mr. Weasley with grim satisfaction. "Oh, I'd love to get Lucius Malfoy for something..."

"You be careful, Arthur," said Mrs. Weasley sharply as they were bowed into the bank by a goblin at the door. "That family's trouble. Don't go biting off more than you can chew. "

"So you don't think I'm a match for Lucius Malfoy?" said Mr. Weasley indignantly. Aileen winced slightly and looked to Percy to distract Mrs Weasley. Aileen didn't understand why she insisted on saying things that hurt members of her family. First by comparing the twins to their older brothers. And now by implying that Mr Weasley was weak and not capable of either doing his job or taking down Mr Malfoy for breaking the law. Percy nodded his understanding and dropped back to speak with his mother about going to a second hand store to look for a specific book.

The twins were about to move to their father, but he was distracted by the sight of Hermione's parents. They were stood awkwardly at one of the counters while they waited for Hermione to introduce them to the group. Since he knew they were muggles, Mr Weasley was pulled from his mood immediately.

"But you're Muggles!" said Mr. Weasley delightedly. "We must have a drink! What's that you've got there? Oh, you're changing Muggle money. Molly, look!" He pointed excitedly at the ten-pound notes in Mr. Granger's hand.

"Meet you back here," Ron said to Hermione and Aileen, as the Weasleys were led off to their under-ground vault by another Gringotts goblin.

Aileen approached one of the tellers and sorted a transfer of nine hundred galleons, eight sickles and twelve nuts into the Weasley account. She had been doing a lot of maths over the last week. She worked out the amount of food she ate each day, how much that cost, then she found the average price for a room rental in the non-magical world and converted to wizarding money, multiplying it by twenty eight days (which is how long she would be staying at the Weasley's) then she doubled her total price. The Weasley would never willing accept money from her so the transfer of money was the best she could do (ensuring they could not send it back to her).

She then took a quick trip down to her vaults and put some money in her money pouch which would probably wouldn't have to fill up again until she was buying her supplies for forth year unless she came across an unexpected expense that she hadn't foreseen.

Back outside on the marble steps, the group went in different direction. Percy set of for stationary supplies and then the second hand book store. Fred and George had arrange to meet up with Lee Jordon so that they could get some prank items and potions ingredients (not that their mother knew what they were spending their pocket money on). Since Ginny needed not only school robes but also some knew dresses, Mrs Weasley took her daughter to a second hand robe shop.

Mr. Weasley was insisting on taking the Grangers off to the Leaky Cauldron for a drink so that he could get to know them better, and so that he could learn more about the non-magical world from their perspective. Aileen couldn't tell with the Granger's were relieved to be taken from the Alley, or sceptical about continuing their conversation with the highly excited man.

"We'll all meet at Flourish and Blotts in an hour to buy your school books," said Mrs. Weasley, setting off with Ginny. "And not one step down Knockturn Alley!" she shouted at the twins' retreating backs.

Although Aileen didn't want to spend too much money, she stocked up on parchment, quills, ink, potion ingredients and potion phials. However, other than books she had nothing else she needed to buy so she enjoyed her time with her friends as they wondered along the alley. They spent someone time at the Quidditch store, where Aileen nodded Ron's longing look at the full set of Chudley Cannon robes, before Hermione had enough and they moved on.

In Gambol and Japes Wizarding Joke Shop (the partner to Zonkos which was reportedly based in Hogsmeade), they met Fred, George, and Lee Jordan, who were stocking up on Dr. Filibuster's Fabulous Wet-Start, No-Heat Fireworks. Aileen had heard them complaining about how lame and outdated the fireworks were. She had no doubt that by the times the boys graduated in four years they would have reverse engineered the fireworks and added their own special Weasley twist.

In the second hand shop, among the overflowing shelves of books, they found Percy pursuing various books including _: Prefects Who Gained Power, Ministers and What made them Great, Minsters and What Made Them Fall, Power and Responsibility: A Guide to the Ministry and Laws and Rules You've Forgotten._ Since Percy probably didn't have enough pocket money to buy more than two of these books, and knowing that they would help him, Aileen slipped the elder boy a couple of Galleons while her friends were distracted. Before Percy could say anything she disappeared back into the isle of junk to retrieve her friends and begin heading to Flourish and Blotts since they hour was nearly up.

They were by no means the only ones making their way to the bookshop. As they approached it, they saw to their surprise a large crowd jostling outside the doors, trying to get in. The reason for this was proclaimed by a large banner stretched across the upper windows:

 _GILDEROY LOCKHART will be signing copies of his autobiography MAGICAL ME today_

 _12\. 30 till 4. 30_

"We can actually meet him!" Hermione squealed excitedly while Aileen winced slightly at the decibel her friend reached. She had only heard Lavender and Parvati reach such a note when discussing knew make-up and fashion. "I mean, he's written almost the whole booklist!"

The crowd seemed to be made up mostly of witches around Mrs. Weasley's age. A harassed-looking wizard stood at the door, saying:

"Calmly, please, ladies... Don't push, there... Mind the books, now... "

Aileen, Ron, and Hermione squeezed inside. A long line wound right to the back of the shop, where Gilderoy Lockhart was signing his books. They each grabbed a copy of The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2; Aileen also grabbed a book that explained wizarding travel. After buying these books they sneaked up the line to where the rest of the Weasleys were standing with Mr. and Mrs. Granger (Percy having headed straight for the family when he arrived) so they could get the rest of the book list.

"Oh, there you are, good," said Mrs. Weasley. She sounded breathless and kept patting her hair. "We'll be able to see him in a minute..."

Gilderoy Lockhart came slowly into view, seated at a table surrounded by large pictures of his own face, all winking and flashing dazzlingly white teeth at the crowd. The real Lockhart was wearing robes of forget-me-not blue that exactly matched his eyes; his pointed wizard's hat was set at a jaunty angle on his wavy hair. A short, irritable-looking man was dancing around taking photographs with a large black camera that emitted puffs of purple smoke with every blinding flash.

"Out of the way, there," he snarled at Ron, moving back to get a better shot. "This is for the Daily Prophet -"

"Big deal," said Ron, rubbing his foot where the photographer had stepped on it.

Gilderoy Lockhart heard him. He looked up. He saw Ron and then he saw Aileen. He stared. Then he leapt to his feet and positively shouted, "It can't be Aileen Potter?"

The crowd parted, whispering excitedly; Lockhart dived forward, seized Aileen's arm _–_ she had tried to sink into Fred, who was stood behind her- and pulled her to the front. The crowd burst into applause. Aileen'skept her face completely blank as Lockhart shook her hand for the photographer, who was clicking away madly, wafting thick smoke over the Weasleys.

With the crowd reformed in front of them the family couldn't do anything to help her (nor did Mrs Weasley want to) while the rest of the shop fell into awed whispering since this was the first time Aileen had been since in such a public setting. Not one of them thought that she wouldn't want to be suddenly and rather violently grabbed by a stranger and forced next him on the stage in order to be paraded about. If it wasn't for the reaction of the people around her and the possible assault charge, Aileen would have broken the man's wrist for grabbing her like that and thrown him to the floor.

"Nice big smile, Aileen," said Lockhart, through his own gleaming teeth. "Together, you and I are worth the front page."

When he finally let go of Aileen's hand, she could hardly feel her fingers. She tried to sidle back over to the Weasleys who had been able to shoulder their way to the front, but Lockhart threw an arm around her shoulders and clamped her tightly to his side making her stiffen under his touch. Percy, Fred, George and Mr Weasley all had narrowed eyes at the action and their hand's drifted to where they kept their wands. They were prepared to act the moment Aileen gave them any sign that she wanted them to do so – dame the consequence for attacking a famous figure like Lockhart. They were not going to let Aileen be heart and Mr Weasley knew that he was well within his rights to act to protect the underage girl who was staying in his home.

' _Dad,'_ she thought _, 'please give me the patents not to kill the imbecilic moron.'_

' _You have all the patience you need child.'_ Her dads soothing voice replied although she hadn't been expecting him to respond. She was sending the prey more as a reason to help keep herself calm _. 'For you are the gentle nature of the sea.'_

"Ladies and gentlemen," Lockhart said loudly, waving for quiet. "What an extraordinary moment this is! The perfect moment for me to make a little announcement I've been sitting on for some time! When young Aileen here stepped into Flourish and Blotts today, she only wanted to buy my autobiography - which I shall be happy to present her now, free of charge-" The crowd applauded again.

"She had no idea," Lockhart continued, giving Aileen'sridged form a little shake, "that she would shortly be getting much, much more than my book, Magical Me. She and her school mates will, in fact, be getting the real magical me. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have great pleasure and pride in announcing that this September, I will be taking up the post of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"

The crowd cheered and clapped and Aileen found herself being presented with two entire works of Gilderoy Lockhart – Aileen really wasn't sure why the man gave her two sets but assumed it was a mistake. She made her way out of the lime-light to the edge of the room, where Ginny was standing next to her new cauldron. The Weasley males had sent her a concerned look, but when she smiled reassuringly at them, they decided to stay and keep an eye on Mrs Weasley and Hermione while they grabbed the rest of the books.

"You have these," Aileen mumbled to Ginny,tippinga set of the books intothe cauldron. The rest she placed in the bag that held her potions supplies (they were in a box so she knew they would not be damaged by the books). She made sure that Percy had seen her give the books to Ginny so he could alert his mother that they didn't need to buy more than three sets (one for Percy, one for the twins and one for Ron).

"Bet you loved that, didn't you, Potter?" said a voice Aileen had no trouble recognizing. She straightened up, turning from Ginny to find herself face-to-face with Draco Malfoy, who was wearing his usual sneer. "Famous Aileen Potter," said Malfoy. "Can't even go into a bookshop without making the front page."

"Leave her alone, she didn't want all that!" Ginny snapped with a glare at the blond. One of the ways that Aileen had gotten the younger girl to stop blushing and opening up to her was by explaining how much she hated the fame because to her, it was the wizarding world laughing in her face that her parents were dead and she wasn't. After that, Ginny had started seeing Aileen as a person and was starting to be very protective of the girl she now viewed as an older sister.

"Potter, you've got yourself a fan-girl!" drawled Malfoy. Ginny went scarlet as Ron and Hermione fought their way over, both clutching stacks of Lockhart's books.

"Oh, it's you," said Ron, looking at Malfoy as if he were something unpleasant on the sole of his shoe. "Bet you're surprised to see Aileen here, eh?" Ron taunted, since he was still of the belief that Malfoy had sent Dobby to stop Aileen from going to school. Aileen had found further wholes in his logic, but she hadn't tried to convince the stubborn red-head since she didn't see the point in doing so until she had proof.

"Not as surprised as I am to see you in a shop, Weasley," retorted Malfoy despite the confuse Aileen noted at Ron's words. "I suppose your parents will go hungry for a month to pay for all those."

Ron went as red as Ginny. He dropped his books into the cauldron, too, and started toward Malfoy, but Aileen and Hermione grabbed the back of his jacket not wanting to get into a fight, especially when there were so many people about.

"Ron!" said Mr. Weasley, struggling over with Fred and George. "What are you doing? It's too crowded in here, let's go outside. "

"Well, well, well - Arthur Weasley." It was Mr. Malfoy. He stood with his hand on Draco's shoulder, sneering in just the same way.

"Lucius," said Mr. Weasley, nodding coldly.

"Busy time at the Ministry, I hear," said Mr. Malfoy. "All those raids... I hope they're paying you over-time?"

He reached into Ginny's cauldron and extracted, from amid the glossy Lockhart books, a very old, very battered copy of 'Basic hexes for the busy and vexed,' which Ginny must have convinced her mother to buy since they weren't spending as much money on books and cloths as they normal would that year despite the expense of the Lockhart's books.

"Obviously not," Mr. Malfoy said. "Dear me, what's the use of being a disgrace to the name of wizard if they don't even pay you well for it?" Mr. Weasley flushed darker than either Ron or Ginny.

"We have a very different idea of what disgraces the name of wizards, Malfoy," he said.

"Clearly," said Mr. Malfoy, his pale eyes straying to Mr. and Mrs. Granger, who were watching apprehensively. "The company you keep, Weasley... And I thought your family could sink no lower -"

Mr Weasley made as though to throw himself at Mr Malfoy but Aileen turned her back to the Malfoys and wrapped her arm around Mr Weasley to hold him in place using ever last bit of her demi-god strength in order to achieve such a feet.

"Mr Weasley, please, calm yourself. You do your job because you love it and you care about non-magical people unlike Mr Malfoy who views them as lower then himself. You are the better person, do not let him goad you into a fight over something so silly." She murmured softly in his ear. She couldn't let him attack such a rich and prominent member of society – it could get him in an awful lot of trouble and it would reflect badly on his family.

Mr Weasley relaxed against her hold and stepped back. Fixing a calm look on his face he turned to Malfoy. "Please return my daughter's book, Malfoy," He spoke calmly, his voice slightly strained in an attempt at keeping civil.

Mr Malfoy thrustthe book at her, his eyes glittering with malice. "Here, girl, take your book, it's the best your father can give you," he beckoned to Draco and swept from the shop.

Word count: 19,050

Copied: 7,324

Edited: 13/08/2017


	11. Chapter 11: Lost Edited

Okay, lets start with: I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER. I'm just happily playing in JK's sand box. I DON'T OWN PERCY JACKSON either. I'm only allowed to play on the swing sets (pouts).

So, the next thing on my list of things to put on the top of this story: I've used a lot of the book structure of the first four years. By this I mean Aileen will be face a troll, save a dragon, go down the third floor, be blamed for opening the chamber, reveal her parseltongue abilities in the dueling club, save Ginny and kill the basilisk, and confront Sirius at the end of third year. Aileen will also be entered into the goblet, however she will be complete the tasks completely differently to Harry. If you don't like stories that do this then this isn't the story for you. Although I divert most majorly from the story line after book four, there are points through the first four years were Aileen dose something that Harry would never do because that is the way I've portrayed my character.

And finally, I have heavily edited the first twenty four chapters. You need to re-read the entire story to understand what happens after that point because it all ties together. By heavily edited, I mean nearly 40% of my story has completely been re-written. There is better characterization, more realistic sword skills and a little bit more on the emotional explanation of my character.

* * *

Chapter 11: Year two: lost

The last few weeks at the Weasley sped by far too quickly for Aileen's liking. She had never before enjoyed a summer holiday, and even though the majority of this one had been horrible, the three and a half weeks she got to spent at the Burrow was fun and some of the happiest times of her life. The chaos of the Weasley household, the games and the flying kept her occupied, even though she still had quite time to herself to go through her notes or read ahead. She even bonded a little bit with Ginny by helping the younger girl study ahead.

On their last evening, Mrs. Weasley conjured up a dinnerthat included one dish of everyone's favorite foods. Mrs. Weasley had also kicked Aileen out of the kitchen for this one meal, refusing to let her help since it would be the last meal Mrs. Weasley could make for all her children till Christmas or summer. She wanted it to be special for all of them, including Aileen, and it wouldn't be as special if Aileen helped make it.

Fred and George rounded off the evening with a (unexpected) display of Filibuster fireworks; they filled the kitchen with red and blue stars that bounced from ceiling to wall for at least half an hour. Then it was time for a last mug of hot chocolate and bed. Aileen woke a few hours after going to bed and threw up, as had become routine for her since she had arrived at the Burrow. She would have slowly increased her portion size like she did back at Hogwarts the year before, but Mrs. Weasley kept a strict eye on how much she ate and there was only so much she could pass onto the twins and Percy who had taken to helping her after catching her one morning to many and forced her to admit why she was throwing up. The boys would put less food on their plate, then one of them would distract Molly while Aileen's plait was swiftly divided as best they could between them.

It took a long while to get started the next morning. They were up at dawn, but somehow they still seemed to have a great deal to do. Mrs. Weasley dashed about in a bad mood looking for spare socks and quills; people kept colliding on the stairs, half-dressed with bits of toast in their hands; and Mr. Weasley nearly broke his neck, tripping over a stray chicken as he crossed the yard carrying Ginny's trunk to the car.

Aileen was rather glad that she had not unpacked much when she arrived at the Weasleys and what she had unpacked was packed in her trunk the night before. She helped out by making sure that Ginny had everything – including the battered diary she had started writing in each night – and finding lost items around the house. She also collected the odd item she happened to spot throughout the house. She knew she should have checked to make sure that the boys had everything packed the night before, but they told her that everything school year was like this: even when only Bill was going.

Aileen couldn't see how eight people, six large trunks, two owls, and a rat were going to fit into one small Ford Anglia. That was until she was shown the special features that Mr. Weasley had added.

"Not a word to Molly," he whispered to Aileen as he opened the trunk and showed her how it had been magically expanded so that the luggage fitted easily.

When at last they were all in the car, Mrs. Weasley glanced into the back seat, where Aileen, Ron, Fred, George, and Percy were all sitting comfortably side by side, and said, "Muggles do know more than we give them credit for, don't they?"

She and Ginny got into the front seat, which had been stretched so that it resembled a park bench. "I mean, you'd never know it was this roomy from the outside, would you?"

Although Mr. Weasley started their journey, and they should have arrived with plenty of time, they were forced to double back several times for forgotten times. Mr. Weasley tried to convince his wife that they should use the flying option since the car had an invisibility booster, but Mrs. Weasley wouldn't be moved on the subject.

The car finally pulled to a stop outside King's Cross at quarter to eleven. As fast as eight people and their trunks and assorted animals could, they had their things on trolleys and hurried into the station and to the solid wall between platforms nine and ten.

"Percy first," said Mrs. Weasley, looking nervously at the clock overhead, which showed they had only five minutes to disappear casually through the barrier. Percy strode briskly forward and vanished. Mr. Weasley went next; Fred and George followed. "I'll take Ginny and you two come right after us," Mrs. Weasley told Aileen and Ron, grabbing Ginny's hand and setting off. In the blink of an eye they were gone.

"Let's go together, we've only got a minute," Ron said to Aileen.

Aileen made sure that Hedwig's cage was safely wedged on top of her trunk and wheeled her trolley around to face the barrier. She felt perfectly confident; this wasn't nearly as uncomfortable as using Floo powder. Both of them bent low over the handles of their trolleys and walked purposefully toward the barrier, gathering speed. A few feet away from it, they broke into a run and -

\- CRASH.

Ron'strolleys hit the barrier and bounced backwardhis extra height and body mass meant he was faster than Aileen. However this worked against him as Ron's trunk fell to the floor with a loud thump and Ron had been knocked onto his bum from the impact of the rebounding trolley. Aileen had been able to swerved her troll and avoid the wall when she saw Ron didn't go through. However Ron's trunk fell in front of her troll causing her chest to impact with the handles.

People all around them stared and a guard nearby yelled, "What in blazes d'you think you're doing?"

Aileen ignored him and offered Ron a hand. "You alright mate, did you lose control?" she asked.

"Yeah, couldn't stop." He muttered, obviously catching onto what she was doing.

Aileen shot a glare at the few people still milling around. "If you're not going to help then carry on walking." She snapped at them before helping Ron put his trunk back on the trolley.

"Why can't we get through?" Aileenhissed to Ron,trying suppress her panic as the public did as she suggested and continued moving about the platform now that they had a reasonable explanation as to why a kid a run into a wall.

"I dunno-" Ron looked around. "We're going to miss the train," Ron whispered. "I don't understand why the gateway's sealed itself-"

Aileen looked up at the giant clock with a sickening feeling in the pit of her stomach. Ten seconds... Nine seconds...

She made sure everything was back on their trollies and leaned heavily against the wall. The material remained solid.

Three seconds... Two seconds... One second...

"It's gone," said Ron, sounding stunned. "The train's left. What if Mum and Dad can't get back through to us? Have you got any Muggle money?"

"I don't have any on me, no." Aileen answered, her eyes skipping to and from the people walking around her as her brain made and discarded plans.

Ron pressed his ear against the barriernow no one was paying them any attention _._

"Can't hear a thing," he said tensely. "What are we going to do? I don't know how long it'll take mum and dad to get back to us."

"I think we should go back to the car," Aileen saidas she noticed that the guard and a few male members of the public were looking at them angrily or suspiciously _._ "We're attracting too much atten-"

"Aileen!" said Ron, his eyes gleaming. "The car!"

"What about it?" Aileen asked looking at her friend suspiciously.

"We can fly the car to Hogwarts."

"It's too dangerous and if we're seen…" Aileen trailed of, not liking this plan at all.

"We're stuck right? And we've got to get to school, haven't we? And even underage wizards are allowed to use magic if it's a real emergency, section nineteen or something of the Restriction of Thingy…"

"I don't think this counts as an emergency Ron; we should wait for your parents." Aileen tried to persuade her friend away from such drastic measures.

"I can fly it, I've seen Fred and George do it enough times. And we don't have much of a choice in the matter Aileen; what if Mum and Dad can't get through the barrier? We'd be stranded here in the middle of Muggle London without a way of getting home.C'mon if we hurry we'll be able to follow the Hogwarts Express."

And they marched off through the crowd of people, out of the station and back onto the side road where the old Ford Anglia was parked. Ron unlocked the cavernous trunk with a series of taps from his wand. He heaved his luggage back in, and got into the front.

"Ron," Aileen leaned in through the passenger window, her trunk and owl at her feet. "This is a bad idea. You are going to get in so much trouble. I can just send Hedwig to Hogwarts, asking for help."

"And by the time someone arrives you could have been waiting hours. Now get in, Aileen or I'm leaving you behind." Ron said.

"Ron, you're my best mate, but I am not getting in this car." Aileen said after taking a deep breath.

"Fine, I'll see you at Hogwarts," said Ron stubbornly, starting the ignition with another tap of his wand.

Ron pressed a tiny silver button on the dashboard. The car vanished - and so did he. Aileen could stillhear the engine,but the sound steadily faded as the car rose. Aileen looked up and grimaced when she saw that the car had reappeared.

Aileen watched the car vanish. Then it flickered back again. Ron seemed to realize that staying in sight of everyone below him was a bad idea because he shot straight into the low, woolly clouds.

When she was left alone on the side walk Aileen grabbed her trunk and walked to the nearest bench then she pulled out some parchment and a fountain pen (she used it when not writing an assignment). She didn't know how long she could stay still for while not behind magical wards (which Mr Weasley had told her existed around the Burrow) before monsters started attacking.

Hopefully the large number of mortals around would be enough to help hide her scent. But just because the mortals covered her sent (she hoped), didn't meant she wasn't in danger from the mortals herself. If she's lucky there is a professor within two hours of her location who can come and collect her before her presence starts drawing unwanted attention.

Thinking carefully she wrote a note:

Dear professor,

Something went wrong with the barrier. My friend and I had time to pass through the barrier and get on the train but it closed early. We are not aware of the reason why, but we have now missed the train. Due to the early closing of the barrier I am unsure if my friend's parents will be able to get back through the barrier.

I don't know what to do.

Please respond as quickly as possible – either by letter with Hedwig or by following Hedwig back to me. I'm currently sat unsupervised in non-magical London at the Tran station and I'm unsure how long I can safely stay here before I drew the attention of either police or criminals.

Kind Regards

Aileen Potter.

Aileen then let Hedwig out of her cage but before she could attach the letter and send it of a small boy appeared in front of her. He appeared to be about four or five years old, had large grey eyes and dark, mousy blond, hair.

"Ow." He said, pointing to Hedwig.

"Yes that is an Owl." Aileen said softly. "Her name's Hedwig." Aileen's eyes scanned the crowed looking for the child's parents.

"Hegwig." The boy tried to repeat.

"That's right, would you like to stroke her?" he nodded excitedly so Aileen knelt in front of the boy (hiding the letter in her pocket) so that it was easier for him to stroke her feathers.

Once the boy was occupied gently stroking Hedwig, who was standing quite still so as to not startle the boy, Aileen decided to find out where his parents were. None of the adults in their area where paying them the slightest amount of attention, nor could she spot anyone who looked like the child.

"What's your name little one?" Aileen asked softly; she was used to speaking with small children from the times she would baby sit the kids in the neighbourhood.

"Daniel," the boy mumbled.

"That's a lovely name. Daniel, where is your mother?"

"I don't know, I got lost." The boy mumbled and Aileen could see tears appearing in his eyes as he stopped stroking Hedwig's soft feathers.

Being careful of Hedwig Aileen pulled the upset boy into a half hug. "Well then we had best find her."

Aileen placed Hedwig on her shoulder and stood, reaching down to grab the boy's hand. Then she picked up her trunk with her other hand.

"What does your mum look like?" Aileen asked slowly moving through the crowd. She got a lot of weird looks because of Hedwig but she was more interested in looking for a women who had similar features to Daniel – or at the very least a very worried women.

"She's really tall, and has hair like me. But her eyes are blue." Daniel said bouncing along beside her.

"And what is she wearing?" Aileen asked smiling down at the excited boy.

"She was wearing a reeeeeeaaalllllllly soft dress. It was purple." Daniel nodded decisively.

"Okay," Aileen said, she was getting worried since she had not spotted Daniel's mum yet which means he must have wondered for quite some time. "What's your last name, little one?" Aileen asked, thinking that maybe she would have to talk with a guard.

"Willis."

"What are you doing in London?" Aileen asked.

Daniel spent the next five minutes describing everything they would be doing that day in great detail. Apparently it was a late birthday gift: his fifth birthday. His mom was taking him to the zoo and then the prince's gardens.

It was just as Aileen was beginning to despair that she noticed a tall women looking around herself in panic. She was out of breath and appeared to be looking for someone. Aileen connected the dots and assumed that it must be Mrs Willis.

"Mrs Willis!" Aileen called approaching the women. She turned and her eyes widen when she noticed the owl on Aileen's shoulder. Then she caught sight of her son.

"DANIEL, SWEETHEART." She exclaimed kneeling down and pulling her son into a tight hug. "Where were you? I was so worried." Mrs Willis pulled back from the hug and started checking her son for injuries. Once she was sure he was fine she picked him up and stood.

"I found him about ten minutes ago wondering alone, ma'am. He was lost but then he spotted Hedwig." Aileen motioned to her owl who was still sitting on her shoulder.

"Hegwig, really soft." Daniel piped up.

"Thank you for finding him," Mrs Willis said.

"Glad I could help, ma'am."

"Is there anything I can do to repay you?" she asked.

"There's nothing ma'am. I'm just happy to see young Daniel where he belongs." Aileen said. "Have a good day, ma'am." She said before turning and disappearing into the crowd before the women could say anything.

Aileen went to the nearest bench, which happened to be where there was very little foot traffic. Then she tied the letter to Hedwig's leg. "Can you find the nearest teacher and give them that letter? Wait to see if they are going to reply or follow you back to me." Aileen said softly stroking Hedwig's crest. She hooted once, pecked her finger then took off.

Aileen got out the fairy tale book she had started at the Dursley's and began to read. Despite having a large portion of her attention on the book Aileen was more than aware of her surroundings. It was an ability she was forced to develop because of the monsters that would attack her while she was outside studying.

This was why, two hours later, she did not raise her head to look as Hedwig divided down. Instead she simply raised one arm so that she had a better purchase. Once Hedwig had landed Aileen closed her book and looked to the man who was stalking towards her with a frowned fixed on his features. He was wearing black trousers, a black role neck and a black coat.

"Professor Snape," Aileen greeted, standing and slipping her book back into her trunk.

"Potter, were is your friend that was mentioned in the letter?" he demanded.

Aileen winced. "Ron didn't wish to wait. I tried to convince him that it would be best to send Hedwig to find a teacher but he chose to ignore me."

"How is he getting to Hogwarts?" Professor Snape demanded.

Aileen looked down, "An enchanted car, sir."

"I will have to inform the headmaster; there might be a chance he can salvage your friends place at Hogwarts." He sneered. "Now come, we do not have all day." Snape turned on the spot and started walking through the crowd.

Aileen grabbed her trunk, Hedwig took to the skies, and hurried after her irritated professor.

He led her into a deserted side alley where no one could see them. Then he grabbed her arm and span on the spot. Aileen immediately felt like someone had shoved her through a very small pipe while twisting it. When the sensation ended she swayed on the spot for a moment trying to cope with the sudden change in her centre of gravity. When she looked up she found that she was at Hogsmeade station.

"Come," Professor Snape barked and they began the long trek up to the castle. Aileen was grateful the man had decided to wait for her to regain her senses before making her move.

Later that day Aileen was sat at the Gryffindor table surrounded by the rest of her house. Hermione had pulled her into a tight hug the moment she spotted Aileen. Exclaiming over how worried she was. Fred and George also joined her at the table along with Neville. Aileen made sure that they left two seats – one for Ginny and one for Ron. Percy saw her and nodded in greeting, obviously relieved that she had made it. However, they were all curious were Ron was but Aileen refused to say anything until she had spoken with him.

The Great Hall was decorated in a similar fashion to how it was during the first feast she had ever had at Hogwarts. There were innumerable candles hovering in midair over the four long, crowded tables, making the golden plates and goblets sparkle. Overhead, the bewitched ceiling, which always mirrored the sky outside, sparkled with stars.

When McGonagall led the line of scared first years in, Aileen spottedGinny among them,she was easily visible because of her vivid Weasley hair. Professor McGonagall, a bespectacled witch with her hair in a tight bun, placed the famous Hogwarts Sorting Hat on a stool before the newcomers. Every year this aged old hat, patched, frayed, and dirty, sorted new students into the four Hogwarts houses (Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin).

During the song Aileen's eyes wandered past McGonagall to where Professor Dumbledore, the headmaster, sat watching the Sorting from the staff table, his long silver beard and half-moon glasses shining brightly in the candlelight. Several seats along, Aileen saw Gilderoy Lockhart, dressed in robes of aquamarine. And there at the end was Hagrid, huge and hairy, drinking deeply from his goblet. Professor Snape had yet to join the feast since he had been tasked with waiting for Ron especially when a special addition newspaper was published showing a flying car and reporting that several mundanes had needed to have their memory whipped. This meant that Ron had broken the Statue for Secrecy. Hopefully the headmaster would be lenient on her friend since her hadn't through his actions through probably.

Aileen cheered for each of the first years as they were sorted, memorizing each of their faces. When Ginny was sorted into Gryffindor Aileen waved her into the empty seat they had left her. She took it without hesitation since Aileen's group had sat closest to the other first years. The feast was amazing like usual and Aileen, along with Hermione and Neville, spent most of it answering the first year's questions (Fred and George disappeared up the table after Aileen explained that Ron as probably in a lot of trouble since he had refused to wait with her).

When they met Ron outside the Gryffindor Common room, Hermione began to lecture him on how foolish he was while Aileen just clapped his arm and told him she was glad he was alright. Ron, who had been standing worriedly, relaxed at her words. He was especially grateful when she saved him from Hermione's lecture by opening the portrait whole and pulling Hermione up to the girl's dormitories.

Word count: 3,634

Copied: 839

Edited: 13/08/2017


	12. Chapter 12: The Ponce Edited

Okay, lets start with: I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER. I'm just happily playing in JK's sand box. I DON'T OWN PERCY JACKSON either. I'm only allowed to play on the swing sets (pouts).

So, the next thing on my list of things to put on the top of this story: I've used a lot of the book structure of the first four years. By this I mean Aileen will be face a troll, save a dragon, go down the third floor, be blamed for opening the chamber, reveal her parseltongue abilities in the dueling club, save Ginny and kill the basilisk, and confront Sirius at the end of third year. Aileen will also be entered into the goblet, however she will be complete the tasks completely differently to Harry. If you don't like stories that do this then this isn't the story for you. Although I divert most majorly from the story line after book four, there are points through the first four years were Aileen dose something that Harry would never do because that is the way I've portrayed my character.

And finally, I have heavily edited the first twenty four chapters. You need to re-read the entire story to understand what happens after that point because it all ties together. By heavily edited, I mean nearly 40% of my story has completely been re-written. There is better characterization, more realistic sword skills and a little bit more on the emotional explanation of my character.

* * *

Chapter 12: Year two: the Ponce(s) and Fans

It seemed word had spread in the common room about what Ron had done. While the twins went to congratulate their brother while ascertaining his wellbeing, Aileen headed Percy of. She explained what happened at the barrier to force Ron into making the decision, pointing out that it was technically Mr. and Mrs. Weasley's fault since they had left Aileen and Ron to go through last. She also pointed out that it had taken nearly three hours for her to be collected from the platform, and that time could have easily double, placing them in danger in the mundane world.

After hearing her words, Percy had calmed down enough to think rationally about the events, although he was still disappointed in his brother for not being more careful. However, must of his energy was focused on thinking up a solution to the problem that Ron and Aileen had been presented with. He walk away muttering about having a wizard (or several) stationed on the non-magical side of the entrance to ensure that everyone made it safely through the barrier. It also double as a way of making sure that the non-magical raised students had someone there to point them in the right direction.

Aileen thought off a proud smile as she caught Percy's plans. If he made it to the minister's office as was his ambition, Aileen had absolutely no doubt that the wizarding world would be better off. Especially if he continued to have the support of his brothers who kept him grounded in reality and weren't afraid to remind him when he was becoming too full of himself. It was his acknowledged hubris, and although he couldn't always keep an eye on it – he had others who were willing to help temper it for him.

The next day, Aileen was sat in the Great Hall talking with Hermione and Neville about the Herbology assignment they had been assigned over the summer, when Ron's day started going downhill, fast. It had started well with the rest of the house still congratulating and celebrating his stunt when he headed down for breakfast.

As always the Hogwarts House-elves had prepared a large array of food for breakfast: large bowls of porridge sat in the middle of the table so people could help themselves, plates of kippers, loafs of toast, plates of eggs and bacon, and bowls of fruit, low fat yogurts and oats for those who wanted a healthy option. The enchanted ceiling was showing a dull, grey and overcast sky. From the looks of it a storm was on its way to Scotland.

Ron sat down at the Gryffindor table next to Hermione, who had her copy of Voyages with Vampires next to her (she had been reading it before being drawn into Aileen and Neville's conversation)while Aileen sat opposite him.

Neville greeted him cheerfully, being in a good mood since Aileen hadn't ignored him like he feared she would after such a long holiday of no contact, when Ron joined them at the table.

"Mail's due any minute - I think Gran's sending a few things I forgot." Neville always had trouble remembering everything he needed to bring to Hogwarts, the year before he had forgotten his warmer cloths for the winter months. Neville had confessed that he had panicked, unsure what he needed to pack and his gran refused to help him. This year he had done well, only forgetting to pack more than four pairs of socks (he didn't think about the number of socks he needed since he was so preoccupied with everything else).

Aileen had only just started in on her bowl of fruit (pleased to be deciding her own food portions again) when, sure enough, there was a rushing sound overhead and a hundred or so owls streamed in, circling the hall and dropping letters and packages into the chattering crowd. A relatively small package was dropped in front of Neville, along with a letter. Moments later, Errol, the Weasley's old grey owl, fell from the sky and into Hermione's jug which sprayed milk everywhere.

"Errol!" Ron exclaimed in shock as he pulled the dilapidated owl out of the milk jug by its feet before it could drown. When Ron placed the old mail bird on its feet on a clear bit of table, he immediately slumped unconscious. But such a faithful mail bird was Errol that he had managed to hold the damp red envelope it was task with delivering in its beak. "Oh, no-" Ron gasped, his face morphing from worried shock to horror.

"It's all right, he's still alive," said Hermione, prodding Errol gently with the tip of her finger.

"It's not that - it's that." Ron was pointing at the red envelope. It looked quite ordinary to Aileen, but Ron and Neville were both looking at it as though they expected it to explode.

"What's the matter?" Aileen asked worriedly, she had never seen anyone so worried by a letter from home before.

"She's - she's sent me a Howler," said Ron faintly.

"You'd better open it, Ron," said Neville in a timid whisper. "It'll be worse if you don't. My Gran sent me one once, and I ignored it and" - he gulped - "it was horrible."

"When did you get a howler?" Aileen asked confused. Ginny had explained what a howler was when Aileen came across the term in one of her books. So she knew what it did, but she hadn't know what it looked like until then.

"Last year, when we were caught out of bed." Neville answered, confusing Aileen more. She didn't remember any time when Neville could have received a howler without her being able to hear it – according to Ginny they weren't exactly quiet. Actually now she thought about it, if the Howlers were a common way for parents to tell their children off, why was Ron's howler the first one she had ever heard or seen? Especially considering the amount of trouble the twins got in and their mother's disapproval of their pranks.

Ron's whole attention was fixed on the letter, which had begun to smoke at the corners.

"Open it," Neville urged. "It'll all be over in a few minutes-"

Ron stretched out a shaking hand, eased the envelope from Errol's beak, and slit it open. Neville stuffed his fingers in his ears. A split second later a roar of sound filled the huge hall, shaking dust from the ceiling.

"STEALING THE CAR, I WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN SURPRISED IF THEY'D EXPELLED YOU, YOU WAIT TILL I GET HOLD OF YOU, I DON'T SUPPOSE YOU STOPPED TO THINK WHAT YOUR FATHER AND I WENT THROUGH WHEN WE SAW IT WAS GONE -"

Aileen had heard Mrs. Weasley shout before, but this was far louder than anything Mrs. Weasley would have been able to reach naturally. Her voice had been amplified so much that small plates and spoons where rattling on the table and the sounded echoed through the hall. People throughout the hall jumped at the deafening sound, spinning around in their seats to located who had received the howler. Ron sank lower in his seat and his face flared in embarrassment.

"LETTER FROM DUMBLEDORE LAST NIGHT, I THOUGHT YOUR FATHER WOULD DIE OF SHAME, WE DIDN'T BRING YOU UP TO BEHAVE LIKE THIS, YOU COULD HAVE DIED -"

Aileentried very hard to look as though she couldn't hear the voice that was making her eardrums throb; being told off for your behavior should not take place in front of the entire school, it was a privet thing between family members. Judging by the incredulous looks she was getting from some of the older years she was doing an alright job at it.

"-ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED. YOUR FATHER'S FACING AN INQUIRY AT WORK, IT'S ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT AND IF YOU PUT ANOTHER TOE OUT OF LINE WE'LL BRING YOU STRAIGHT BACK HOME."

A ringing silence fell. The red envelope, which had dropped from Ron's hand, burst into flames and curled into ashes. A few people laughed and, gradually, a babble of talk broke out again. Aileen couldn't believe that parents sent their children such things, hanging their dirty laundry were anyone could see and comment on. The Howler serves more as an embarrassment to the children and a reason for them to be bullied than anything else.

Hermione put Voyages with Vampires away and looked down at the top of Ron's head. "Well, I don't know what you expected, Ron, but you -"

"Don't tell me I deserved it," snapped Ron.

Hermione didn't have time to respond to Ron's retort (much to Aileen's relief – Hermione still hadn't learnt when not to say 'I told you so' and she didn't want to deal with an argument between her friends so early on in the school year). Professor McGonagall took the time to hand out their course schedules; although why she didn't have them handed out in the common room on the first night Aileen didn't know because it meant everyone spent the first morning without their textbooks. Fortunately, they had double Herbology first this year and so it would be unlikely that they actually needed there textbooks.

Aileen, Neville, Ron, and Hermione left the castle as a group since there was no point hanging around the great hall with classes starting soon. They skirted the small vegetable patch that Hagrid maintained near the castle, before reaching the greenhouses. As they neared the greenhouses they saw the rest of the class standing outside, waiting for Professor Sprout. Since Professor Spout was the head of house Hufflepuff it made sense that she had given her houses their schedules before the Gryffindors had gotten theirs because she would need to be out working in the greenhouses pretty early. Especially considering the damage Ron had done when he arrived via a dying flying car.

This was the first time that Professor Sprout wasn't waiting at the greenhouses for her class. Since the plants could be dangerous and they never knew if they were in greenhouse one or two she liked to be there to direct the class and get everyone settled before the start time of the class. Just before the final bell rang, Professor Sprout came striding across the lawn from the Whomping Willow, she had somehow managed to bandage several of its limbs.

Normally Professor Sprout was a happy squat little witch who always had dirt on her cloths and under her fingernails from all the times she spent in the greenhouses. Today, however, she had a frown on her face as she approach the group of second years. Some would assume that this would be due the fact that she just had to treat the very rare Whomping Willow for impact injuries, but Aileen guessed that Professor Sprout was actually very annoyed with Lockhart who was walking beside her, his cloths and hair immaculate.

"Oh, hello there!" he called, beaming around at the assembled students. "Just been showing Professor Sprout the right way to doctor a Whomping Willow! But I don't want you running away with the idea that I'm better at Herbology than she is! I just happen to have met several of these exotic plants on my travels..."

Aileen resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the fool. Not only were Whomping Willows not exotic (they were rare and from what Aileen had read Hogwarts's was one of three), but Professor Sprout was probably the best herbologist to cross Hogwarts' grounds in nearly three hundred years. She could have had her pick at jobs with better pay, but she chose to remain at Hogwarts and teach. And never, in any of his books or interviews, had Lockhart before claimed to know anything about Herbology outside of his book on general household and guardian maintenance that Mrs. Weasley owned.

"Greenhouse three today, chaps!" Professor Sprout announced, making a pronounced effort to ignore the bright blob besides her.

There was a ripple of interest through the group at this announcement. According to the upper years, they should have spent until Christmas in greenhouse two, having completed the plants in greenhouse one but not two the year before. Then they were meant to spend the rest of second year and all of third year in greenhouse three. Fourth and fifth year was spent in greenhouse four, sixth and seventh in greenhouse five. There was a sixth greenhouse but Professor Sprout only let the best students who were considering a career or mastery in the subject into the last greenhouse since she was very protective of the plants. Aileen wasn't sure what had causes the change in this normal procedure but she hoped it wasn't detrimental for their education since they already had two dude subjects (history and DADA).

Professor Sprout took a large key from her belt and unlocked the door that the class had gathered in front of. Aileen caught a whiff of damp earth and fertiliser mingling with the heavy perfume of some giant, umbrella sized flowers dangling from the ceiling. She was about to follow Ron and Hermione inside (Neville had been at the front of the group in his excitement) when Lockhart's hand shot out.

"Aileen! I've been wanting a word - you don't mind if she's a couple of minutes late, do you, Professor Sprout?" Judging by Professor Sprout's scowl, she did mind, but Lockhart said, "That's the ticket," and closed the greenhouse door in her face.

Aileen stood completely ridged for a second before she turned and faced her professor: who she was contemplating on seeing removed before the end of the year and she had not even had a lesson with him yet. Being in greenhouse three meant they were dealing with a potentially dangerous plant, which means Professor Sprout won't start the lesson until she joined the class because she wasn't someone who needlessly endangered her students. So by stopping Aileen from going into the class, he wasn't just disrupting the lesson for her, but for the rest of her class.

"Aileen," said Lockhart, his large white teeth gleaming in the sunlight as he shook his head. "Aileen, Aileen, Aileen." Completely nonplussed, Aileen said nothing. "When I heard - well, of course, it was all my fault. Could have kicked myself."

Aileen had no idea where the moronic idiot was going with this, but before she could say so, he continued.

"Don't know when I've been more shocked. Purposefully missing the train. Getting a professor to take you to Hogwarts! Well, of course, I knew at once why you'd done it. Stood out a mile. Aileen, Aileen, Aileen."

It was remarkable how he could show every one of those brilliant teeth even when he wasn't talking, Aileen thought absently mindedly. And if he said her name again in a group of three she wouldn't be responsible for the violent direction of her thoughts.

"Gave you a taste for publicity, didn't I?" said Lockhart. "Gave you the bug. You got onto the front page of the paper with me and you couldn't wait to do it again. "

"Aileen, Aileen, Aileen," said Lockhart, reaching out and grasping her stiffshoulder; Aileen fought an internal battle just to remain stood where she was and not to bolt into the greenhouse as her eye twitched at the repeat. "I understand. Natural to want a bit more once you've had that first taste - and I blame myself for giving you that, because it was bound to go to your head - but see here, young lady, you can't start manipulating your professors to try and get yourself noticed. Just calm down, all right? Plenty of time for all that when you're older. Yes, yes, I know what you're thinking! 'It's all right for him, he's an internationally famous wizard already!' But when I was twelve, I was just as much of a nobody as you are now. In fact, I'd say I was even more of a nobody! I mean, a few people have heard of you, haven't they? All that business with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named!"

He glanced at the lightning scar on Aileen's forehead completely ignoring the annoyed look that Aileen hadn't been able to hide. She hated her fame, but she knew very well that anyone who had heard of Voldemort had mostly likely heard of her. Hell, children knew her name before she even did!

"I know, I know - it's not quite as good as winning Witch Weekly's Most Charming-Smile Award five times in a row, as I have-but it's a start, Aileen, it's a start." Lockhart continued to prattle on for a moment before he eventually decided he had said what he wanted to and 'got his point across'. When he winked and strode of back to the castle Aileen let out a relieved sigh.

When Aileen slipped inside the greenhouse, she found everyone sat at tables of four, talking with each other as Professor Sprout stood at the front watching. Hermione, Neville and Ron had picked a table and saved her a seat, so she hurried to it so that Professor Sprout could begin her class which looked to be interesting since there was a row of twenty or so earmuffs on the equipment bench.

"We'll be repotting Mandrakes today." Professor Sprout's announcement brought the class's attention to her. "Now, who can tell me the properties of the Mandrake?"

To nobody's surprise, Hermione's hand was first into the air, followed closely by Neville's. Although Neville was the resident Herbology expert, Hermione was faster in terms of getting her hand up because she was more confident in herself and her knowledge compared to Neville who was painfully shy despite the fact that he had never got a question wrong or failed in Herbology.

"Mandrake, or Mandragora, is a powerful restorative," Hermione said in her normal, quoting the textbook, voice. "It is used to return people who have been transfigured or cursed to their original state."

"Excellent. Ten points to Gryffindor," said Professor Sprout. "The Mandrake forms an essential part of most antidotes. It is also, however, dangerous. Who can tell me why?"

"The cry of an adult Mandrake is fatal to anyone who hears it," Neville answered promptly.

"Precisely. Take ten points," said Professor Sprout. "Now, the Mandrakes we have here are still very young." She pointed to a row of deep trays as she spoke, and everyone shuffled forward for a better look. A hundred or so tufty little plants, purplish green in colour, were growing there in rows.

"Everyone take a pair of earmuffs," said Professor Sprout. There was a scramble as everyone tried to seize a pair that wasn't pink and fluffy, but Aileen assuming that this normally happens, decided to grab a pink and fluffy one since they were probably less worn. Neville had obviously come to the same conclusion as her as he also grabbed a pink pair while Hermione and Ron were able to get their hands on black pairs – they both detested the color pink and absolutely refused to wear it.

"When I tell you to put them on, make sure your ears are completely covered," said Professor Sprout. "When it is safe to remove them, I will give you the thumbs-up. Right, earmuffs on."

Aileen snapped the earmuffs over her ears. They shut out sound completely. Professor Sprout put a pink, fluffy pair over her own ears, rolled up the sleeves of her robes, grasped one of the tufty plants firmly, and pulled hard. Instead of roots, a small, muddy, and extremely ugly baby popped out of the earth. The leaves were growing right out of his head. He had pale green, mottled skin, and was clearly bawling at the top of his lungs. Professor Sprout took a large plant pot from under the table and plunged the Mandrake into it, burying him in dark, damp compost until only the tufted leaves were visible.

Professor Sprout dusted off her hands, gave them all the thumbs-up, and removed her own earmuffs. "As our Mandrakes are only seedlings, their cries won't kill yet," she said calmly as though she'd just done nothing more exciting than water a begonia. "However, they will knock you out for several hours, and as I'm sure none of you want to miss your first day back, make sure your earmuffs are securely in place while you work. I will attract your attention when it is time to pack up. Five to a tray - there is a large supply of pots here - compost in the sacks over there - and be careful of the Venomous Tentacula, it's teething." She gave a sharp slap to a spiky, dark red plant as she spoke, making it draw in the long feelers that had been inching sneakily over her shoulder. "I want every group to have repotted seven mandrakes by the end of class."

Aileen, Neville, Ron, and Hermione were joined at their tray by a curly-haired Hufflepuff boy Aileen knew by sight but had never spoken to. Normally Herbology class was split into groups of four, which was why the tables were arranged as they were, but since they had a class of twenty, and Aileen assumed Professor Sprout was doing the same with Slytherins and Ravenclaws, there wasn't enough mandrakes to break the groups down in such a way. She would need a minimum of an extra fourteen mandrakes if the other group was split into four as well. Professor Spout made it mandatory that any handling of a plant is done repeatedly to ensure they did in fact know what they were doing. If she didn't have enough plants, then there would be a repeat of the lesson latter on in the year. It was something Aileen noticed the professor did last year, and it seemed to be a common theme across all the years apparently.

"Justin Finch-Fletchley," he said brightly, shaking Aileen by the hand. "Know who you are, of course, the famous Aileen Potter... And you're Hermione Granger -always top in everything..." Hermione beamed as she had her hand shaken too "and Ron Weasley. Wasn't that your flying car?" Ron didn't smile. The Howler was obviously still on his mind. "And you must be Neville, best in Herbology, right?" the boy said turning to Neville, who shrugged slightly, obviously not having anticipated the boy knowing who he was since he considered himself a bit of a wall flower (is there a masculine way of phrasing that sentence? Aileen mentally questioned herself but shrugging it off as unimportant.) "That Lockhart's something, isn't he?" Justin continued nattering as they began putting dragon dung in the plant pots. "Awfully brave chap. Have you read his books? I'd have died of fear if I'd been cornered in a telephone booth by a werewolf, but he stayed cool and – zap - just fantastic."

Aileen shared a look with Hermione as they both conveyed their shock at how much the kid was talking, to complete strangers at that. Neville and Ron just shared a disgruntled look at the mention of Lockhart, who they had both grown to hate as they looked at the books, and heard about him from the girls they both talked to (although in Ron's case that only consisted of Hermione and his mother, while Neville had friend's in Hufflepuff who idolized the man).

"My name was down for Eton, you know. I can't tell you how glad I am I came here instead. Of course, Mother was slightly disappointed, but since I made her read Lockhart's books I think she's begun to see how useful it'll be to have a fully trained wizard in the family..."

Luckily after that they had to put the earmuffs on and so they couldn't talk. Professor Sprout had had so much practice that she made this job look extremely easy, but it wasn't. The Mandrakes really didn't want to be pulled out of their warm earth beds, but once they were out of the pots they didn't want to be put back in again either.

After a couple of minutes Aileen signed to the group that one should hold the pot, two control the mandrake and the final two covers it in compost once it's in the pot. They rotated once they had plotted a mandrake. This meant that they finished plotting their mandrakes quicker than other group.

By the end of the class everyone was sweaty, aching, and covered in earth. Aileen and Neville were the best of since they were both used to such physical labor although they were both covered in dirt that the Mandrakes had thrown at them in rebellion. Everyone traipsed back to the castle for a quick wash and then the Gryffindors hurried off to Transfiguration, grumbling about the timetable layout. Who decided it was a good idea to have Herbology, and then another lesson immediately after?

Since this was the first time Ron was using his wand since it had been broken by the Willow, he discovered that the spello-tape holding it together wasn't enough to keep the wand functioning. McGonagall set them the task of turning beetles into buttons to see how much the class had forgotten, but Ron's wand kept crackling and sparking at odd moments. When he tried to transfigure his beetle, he was surrounded by black smoke which resulted in a crushed beetle due to his inability to see.

Aileen tried suggesting that he contact his parents so he could get a new wand but he refused to do so encase his mother sent another howler. Aileen frowned at that but lent Ron her wand so that he could actually do the practical aspect of the lesson. Her wand wasn't a perfect fit but it would have to do until she could convince the stubborn boy that he need a wand.

They went down to lunch, where Ron's mood was not improved by Hermione's showing them the handful of perfect coat buttons she had produced in Transfiguration. Although Hermione had gotten better, she still got blinded to other people's moods and emotions in her pride or search for information and logic.

"What have we got this afternoon?" said Aileen, hastilychanging the subject before an argument could start.

She had a feeling that she might be preventing arguments for the next six years – if the last year was anything to go by. She had hoped that after the end of last year they would have mellowed out some more, it seems that her hope was in vain. After all, a dangerous encounter with a troll helped them become friends, surely nearly dyeing while trying to stop Voldemort would have tightened their bonds of friendship and therefore limit their arguments?

Hermione had always been more Aileen's friend then she had been Ron's friend after the bullying of the first two months. And Ron couldn't talk and bond with Hermione in the same way Aileen could. No matter their experiences, it seemed that this fact wouldn't change. Ron was too insecure in himself and his ability to try and reach out to Hermione any more than he already had, and so their friendship continued to hold only because Aileen was friends with the both of them. If Aileen ever fell out with Ron then she doubted that he would make the effort to stay friends with Hermione.

Hopefully, as they got older, and Ron and Hermione got to know each other outside of their shared friendship with Aileen, the arguments would begin to decline and they might be able to call each other friend. If they weren't, then when Aileen left to find her father's family, they would be left estranged because she had absolutely no plans of telling the two of them who she was and what she was capable off (particularly Hermione whose scientific mind wouldn't take kindly to the idea of gods existing).

"Defense Against the Dark Arts," Hermione answered Aileen's questioned quickly, bringing her mind back to the here and now and not the could bes, might bes and will bes.

"Why," demanded Ron, seizing her schedule, "have you outlined all Lockhart's lessons in little hearts?"

Hermione snatched the schedule back, blushing furiously making her denial redundant especially since Ron had already been able to look at the parchment. The group finished their lunch, Aileen talking with Neville so she didn't have to deal with Ron's teasing of Hermione, before heading outside before DADA. Hermione, in her attempt to ignore Ron, sat and pulled out her book (Voyages with Vampires). Aileen pulled out the notes she had made last year in transfiguration lessons and began going through them with Neville who had asked her to help him. He wasn't happy with his grades and didn't think he could bring them up on his own, so he had approach Aileen to help him study. Ron plopped down next to them, but pulled out Quidditch through the ages, since he didn't want to study and he especially didn't want to think about transfiguration.

After several minutes of this, Aileen noticed that she was being closely watched by someone, who had been smart enough to do it from a distance. Looking up, she saw the very small, mousy-haired boy staring at her as though transfixed – Aileen believed he was called Colin Creevey, but she hadn't had time to memories all the first years yet so she could have been wrong. He was clutching what looked like an ordinary non-magical camera, and the moment Aileen looked at him, he went bright red and scurried across the grass so he was stood in front of her.

"All right, Aileen? I'm - I'm Colin Creevey," he said breathlessly, taking anothertentative step forward so he was within five feet of her. "I'm in Gryffindor, too. D'you think - would it be all right if - can I have a picture?" he finally said, lifting his camera hopefully.

Aileen raised a questioning eyebrow at the small Gryffindor. This was a first.

"So I can prove I've met you," said Colin Creevey eagerly, edging further forward. "I know all about you. Everyone's told me. About how you survived when You-Know-Who tried to kill you and how he disappeared and everything and how you've still got a lightning scar on your forehead" (his eyes raked Aileen's hairline, reminding Aileen that she had forgotten to get anything to cover that up) "and a boy in my dormitory said if I develop the film in the right potion, the pictures'll move." Colin drew a great shuddering breath of excitement, reminding Aileen of her first conversation with Hermione where she had acted with similar energy, and said, "It's amazing here, isn't it? I never knew all the odd stuff I could do was magic till I got the letter from Hogwarts. My dad's a milkman, he couldn't believe it either. So I'm taking loads of pictures to send home to him. And it'd be really good if I had one of you" - he looked imploringly at Aileen - "maybe your friend could take it and I could stand next to you? And then, could you sign it?"

"First things first Colin: I don't do signed photos. Ever." Aileen said making the other deflate. "However if my friends can also be in the photo with us then I do not have an objection to you taking a picture of me. However, it will be the only picture of me you can take unless I state otherwise. Is that understood?" Aileen asked.

Colin nodded excitedly.

"I'll take the photo." Ginny said from behind Aileen having arrived on the steps moments before. She had wanted to talk with Aileen about finding a way to connect with her dorm mates, but she figured she could take the time to help on of her fellow Gryffindors who had been brave enough to approach Aileen.

Aileen stood with Colin next to her and Ron and Hermione behind them. Neville tried to escape, but if Aileen was going to be embarrassed she wasn't going to let him get of scot free. Grabbing Neville's arm she pulled him in next to her. Luckily, Ron was the tallest boy in their year and so he was easily seen in the photo behind him. Ginny stood in front of them.

"Do you want the castle in the background, Colin?" Ginny asked.

"Yes, please." Colin nodded.

Ginny took a couple more steps back before the camera flashed, signaling that the photo had been taken.

"Thanks." Colin said happily before taking the camera back and scurrying off.

"Hay, Aileen do you have a couple of minutes tonight to talk? I have a couple of questions?" Ginny asked hesitantly.

"Of course, I'll meet you in the common room." Aileen promised the younger girl. She viewed her like a little sister after spending nearly a month staying in the same room as her over the summer holidays. Aileen had promised to make herself available to answer any of Ginny's questions when they arrived at Hogwarts because she had wished that an older student had taken the same interest in the first years in order to answer hers (and the other's) questions.

"That was very kind of you," Hermione commented as they made their way to Defense, referring to what Aileen had done for Colin since she was aware of the friendship Aileen had with Ginny.

"Yes well, if I didn't want a stalker, letting Colin take the photo was my best option." Aileen said. "It also allowed me to cut the deal of no future photo unless I say otherwise."

When they got to the Defense class room Aileen made them sit at the back, much to Hermione's confusion. The only over class in which they sat at the back was potions, and that seating arrangement had only emerged after the second lesson. Ron was more than happy to sit at the back, and he had recovered his previous good mood since Aileen had pulled him into the photo with her instead of being the only one in it. He knew that Aileen did it because she didn't like the attention, but the fact that she wanted his help in fending on the fans, and that she acknowledge his friendship in such a way, made him fill with happiness and pride.

When the whole class was seated, Lockhart cleared his throat loudly and silence fell. He reached forward, picked up Neville's copy of Travels with Trolls, and held it up to show his own, winking portrait on the front.

"Me," he said, pointing at it and winking as well. "Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin, Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defense League, and five-time winner of Witch Weekly's Most Charming-Smile Award - but I don't talk about that."

Aileen frowned. He always seemed to place the most important award as the most charming smile. And the Dark Force Defense League didn't have honorary members. There was no such title. The only way he could have got such a title, was if the members got so fed up with his pestering that they said that in order to get rid of him. Aileen had the feeling that their plan may have back fired.

"I didn't get rid of the Bandon Banshee by smiling at her!"

He waited for them to laugh; a few people smiled weakly, but most people just stared blankly at the man. His attempt at humor falling flat on the unimpressed class (even the star stuck girls).

"I see you've all bought a complete set of my books - well done."

Aileen raised an eyebrow. Of course they brought the books, he put them all on the book list! Without a valid reason, the students would have gotten a detention for not buying the books.

"I thought we'd start today with a little quiz. Nothing to worry about just to check how well you've read them, how much you've taken in -" When he had handed out the test papers he returned to the front of the class and said, "You have thirty minutes – start - now!"

Aileen looked down at her paper and read:

1\. What is Gilderoy Lockhart 's favourite colour?

2\. What is Gilderoy Lockhart's secret ambition?

3\. What, in your opinion, is Gilderoy Lockhart's greatest achievement to date?

On and on it went, over three sides of paper, right down to:

54\. When is Gilderoy Lockhart's birthday, and what would his ideal gift be?

The initial idea of a quiz was a good one, so that the teacher could accurately check progress and current knowledge base. It was especially important when the teacher has never had the class before. But the actual questions they were being asked were egotistical. Aileen was glade that it wasn't the teacher who determined the theory test they had to sit, but instead someone from the ministry, otherwise she may have to resort to drastic measure at the end of the year (the only part of the test the teacher was allowed to determine was the practical as long as it incorporated several key skills). Since she didn't want to lose her grade, and knowing that it wasn't Lockhart writing the final assessment, she decided to put her snark to good use as she answered the questions on Lockhart's paper – including the right answers as she went so she couldn't get in trouble for it.

Lockhart's favorite color is lilac, which hints at his possible bisexuality for the color is associated with femininity and maternity.

To rid the world of evil (an impossibility because where there is good there must also be evil) and market his own line of hair-care product (because such an ambition should be ranked next to 'ridding the world of evil').

Making it to his thirty third birthday without being killed by his own stupidity.

Half an hour later, Lockhart collected the papers and rifled through them in front of the class. "Tut, tut - hardly any of you remembered that my favourite colour is lilac. I say so in Year with the Yeti. And a few of you need to read Wanderings with Werewolves more carefully - I clearly state in Chapter twelve that my ideal birthday gift would be harmony between all magic and non-magic peoples - though I wouldn't say no to a large bottle of Ogden's Old Firewhisky!"

He gave them another roguish wink. Ron was now staring at Lockhart with an expression of disbelief on his face; Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas, who were sitting in front, where shaking with silent laughter. Lockhart continued flicking through the answer, and to Aileen's amusement paused when he read her answer, paling slightly before forcing himself to move on.

"... But Miss Hermione Granger knew my secret ambition is to rid the world of evil and market my own range of hair-care potions - good girl! In fact" - he flipped her paper over - "full marks! Where is Miss Hermione Granger?" Hermione raised a trembling hand. "Excellent!" beamed Lockhart. "Quite excellent! Take ten points for Gryffindor! And so - to business -"

He bent down behind his desk and lifted a large, covered cage onto it. "Now - be warned! It is my job to arm you against the foulest creatures known to wizard kind! You may find yourselves facing your worst fears in this room. Know only that no harm can befall you whilst I am here. All I ask is that you remain calm. "

Lockhart placed a hand on the cover. Dean and Seamus had stopped laughing now. Neville was cowering in his front row seat, probably wishing he has sat somewhere else. Aileen wouldn't have minded if he had chosen to sit near them, but there hadn't been a spare seat with the Slytherins taken up the other half of the room (and being suspiciously quite as not a single one showed a reaction to Lockhart's teaching or words) and Parvati and Lavender sat in front of them. Although there was a spear seat next to Lavender he wasn't nearly confident to take that empty seat.

"I must ask you not to scream," said Lockhart in a low voice. "It might provoke them." As the whole class held its breath, Lockhart whipped off the cover. "Yes," he said dramatically. "Freshly caught Cornish pixies."

Seamus Finnigan couldn't control himself. He let out a snort of laughter that even Lockhart couldn't mistake for a scream of terror.

"Yes?" He smiled at Seamus.

"Well, they're not - they're not very - dangerous, are they?" Seamus choked.

"Don't be so sure!" said Lockhart, waggling a finger annoyingly at Seamus. "Devilish tricky little blighters they can be!"

The pixies were electric blue and about eight inches high, with pointed faces and voices so shrill it was like listening to a lot of budgies arguing. The moment the cover had been removed, they had started jabbering and rocketing around, rattling the bars and making bizarre faces at the people nearest them. Aileen had read about them in one of her books the year before and so she put all of her books back into her bag which she then slung over her shoulder while allowing her wand to drop into her hand (since she had spoken with Dumbledore at the end of the last term she wore the dagger on her thigh and the wand on her forearm). Ron and Hermione looked at her like she was crazy although Hermione was also glaring at her.

"Right, then," Lockhart said loudly. "Let's see what you make of them!" And he opened the cage.

Aileen jumped from her seat and slammed the window shut before the pixies could make a dash for it. It was pandemonium. The pixies shot in every direction like rockets. Two of them attempted to seize Neville by the ears and lifted him into the air but Aileen slapped them both away with the back of her wand. She wasn't about to let him be hooked to the chandelle and injured. The rest proceeded to wreck the classroom more effectively than a rampaging rhino. They grabbed ink bottles and sprayed the class with them, shredded books and papers, tore pictures from the walls, up-ended the waste basket, grabbed bags and books and threw them at the window: attempting to smash it; within minutes, the Gryffindor's were scattered and independent hiding under their desks hopping that it would stop the pixies form trying to tug at their hair or cloths.

A couple of the Slytherin girls (Tracy Davis, Daphne Greengrass and Millicent Bulstrode if she wasn't mistaken) had taken up their Lockhart texts and was batting any of the pixies that dared to get too close while Parkinson was huddled behind Draco who, in turn, was allowing Crabbe and Goyle to swing at them. The other Slytherins – Blaise Zabini, Theodore Nott and Sally Smith – were under a group of desks they had pushed together and was hexing any of the Pixies that went for them.

In all the chaos Aileen stood calmly, just watching and waiting to see what Lockhart would do before she took action. If a pixie flew at her she would hex it to prevent it reaching Neville who was hiding behind her. Ron and Hermione had ducked under a desk together and Hermione was hitting any of the pixies that came to close with impedimenta and they soon learnt to leave her alone.

"Come on now - round them up, round them up, they're only pixies," Lockhart shouted. He rolled up his sleeves, brandished his wand, and bellowed, "Peskipiksi Pesternomi!"

It had absolutely no effect; one of the pixies seized his wand and threw it at the window, too. Lockhart gulped and dived under his own desk.

Sighing sadly Aileen brought her fingers to her lips and let out one shrill whistle; it was something she had learnt to do because it had annoyed some of the monsters she had faced with sensitive hearing. All the pixies froze in mid-air before turning to face her, obviously not sure what to do.

"Fall in!" she barked, lacing her voice with power, assuming that the simple minded creatures would follow an authority figure presented to them. Immediately the pixies flew into lines, like a squadron from the military. A couple of the pixies that had been hit by the Slytherins hexes were a little wobbly in their air and so was helped by a fellow un-injured pixie. "Now then, you are to return this classroom to rights, immediately." Aileen raised her wand, "Repero," books and broken ink bottles flew back together and the pixies grabbed each item and returned them to the desks. The class had come out of hiding and where now watching open mouth.

Once everything was finished Aileen walked over to the window and opened it. "You may leave, and I expect to hear nothing of your mayhem in the castle, is that understood?"

The pixies saluted and then made their way, one by one, out of the classroom room window with their heads bowed in shame. Aileen surveyed the class with a critical eye before nodding and walking out just as the end of lesson bell went.

After a disastrous first week Aileen was quite glad to reach the weekend. She, Ron, and Hermione were planning to visit Hagrid on Saturday morning. Aileen, like always was up early, and reading a defense book she had gotten from the library (she doubted she was going to learn anything from Lockhart) when she was disturbed byOliver Wood Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team.

"What is thematter?"asked Aileen worried, since Oliver was notorious for his ability to sleep till noon on a weekend, especially the first week back after a holiday.

"Quidditch practice!" said Wood, "Come on!" He made to head for the girls stairs but Aileen grabbed his arm.

"I'll wake the girls." She said before going past him.

After waking the disgruntled girls, Aileen got changed into more suitable training clothsandscribbled a note to Hermione explaining where she'd gone and went down the spiral staircase to the common room, her Nimbus Two Thousand on her shoulder.

She had just reached the portrait hole when there was a clatter behind her making her spin round and draw her wand only to see Colin Creevey came dashing down the spiral staircase, his camera swinging madly around his neck and something clutched in his hand. Aileen shook her head slightly and put her wand back into the holster around her forearm.

"I heard someone saying your name on the stairs, Aileen! Look what I've got here! I've had it developed; I wanted to show you -"

Aileen looked bemusedly at the photograph Colin was brandishing under her nose. A moving, black-and-white photograph of her, Ron, Hermione, Neville and Colin all waving at the camera. Colin appeared to be blushing, Ron and Hermione were smiling happily, Neville looked uncomfortable, while Aileen just looking at Colin with an exasperated, yet fond, look on her face. Much like the one she was currently sporting.

"It's very good Colin, you going to send it to your parents?" Aileen asked as she climbed through the portrait hole.

"I've already sent them a copy. But there's doesn't move – Percy Weasley helped me develop this one so that it was like a proper wizard photo but he refused to do the same to the one being sent to my parents." Colin scrambled through the hole after her as he talk. "Were are you heading?"

"Quidditch pitch, my team Captain woke us for an early practice." Aileen explained.

"Cool, can I watch?" Colin asked.

"I don't know what we will be doing. Wood could spend most of the morning explaining plays before we go out to the pitch. I don't want you getting cold."

"I don't mind. You were the youngest House player in a hundred years, weren't you, Aileen? Weren't you?" said Colin, trotting alongside her like an eager puppy. "You must be brilliant. I've never flown. Is it easy? Is that your own broom? Is that the best one there is?"

Aileen smiled indulgently, "Yes I am the youngest player in over a hundred years. I'm good but there are others better than me. You'll learn how to fly soon, lessons start second week of school. If you listen and pay attention to Madam Hooch, the instructor, you'll do fine; all the children who haven't flown before end up graduating as decent flyers by the time Madam Hooch is done. And yes this is my own broom, it's currently the best for a seeker but a new broom was released over the holidays which is better for a chaser."

"I don't really understand Quidditch," said Colin once he had absorbed all the information she had given him. "Is it true there are four balls? And two of them fly around trying to knock people off their brooms?"

"Yes," Aileen answered bemusedly. She supposed it was a decent question to ask, she hadn't understood Quidditch at first either. "They're called Bludgers. There are two Beaters on each team who carry clubs to beat the Bludgers away from their side and towards their opponents. Fred and George Weasley, the fourth year red headed pranksters and younger brother to Percy _,_ are the Gryffindor Beaters."

"And what are the other balls for?" Colin asked, tripping down a couple of steps because he was gazing open-mouthed at Aileen,the only thing stopping him from falling to his death was Aileen's reflexes.

"Well, the Quaffle - that's the biggish red one - is the one that scores goals, ten points for each goal. Three Chasers on each team throw the Quaffle to each other and try and get it through the goal posts at the end of the pitch - they're three long poles with hoops on the end. This part is much like football, in the aspect of the players passing the ball down field to a goal. Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet, both fourth year, and Katie Bell, a third year, are our Chasers. It's the first time in Gryffindor history that girls have dominated the team."

"And the fourth ball -"

"Is the Golden Snitch," said Aileen, "and it's very small, very fast, and difficult to catch. But that's what the Seeker's got to do, because a game of Quidditch doesn't end until the Snitch has been caught. And whichever team's Seeker gets the Snitch earns their team an extra hundred and fifty points. "

"And you're the Gryffindor Seeker, aren't you?" said Colin in awe.

"Yes," said Aileen as they left the castle and started across the dew drenched grass. "And there's the Keeper, too. He guards the goal posts. Oliver Wood, the Gryffindor captain and a fifth year is our keeper and he's good enough to play for the nationals _._ That's it, really."

But Colin didn't stop questioning Aileen all the way down the sloping lawns to the Quidditch field, and Aileen only shook him off when she reached the changing rooms; Colin called after her in a piping voice, "I'll go and get a good seat, Aileen!" and hurried off to the stands.

The rest of the Gryffindor team were already in the changing room. Wood was the only other person who looked truly awake. Fred and George were sitting, puffy-eyed and tousle-haired, next to Alicia, who seemed to be nodding off against the wall behind her. Her fellow Chasers, Katie and Angelina, were yawning side by side opposite them.

"There you are, Aileen, what kept you?" said Wood briskly.

"Had to change into more suitable cloths. Colin's out in the stands, he wants to watch the practice." Aileen added, not wishing the Quidditch fanatic to think they had a Slytherin spy watching them (she had no doubt that Colin would be taking pictures to send to his parents).

"Now, I wanted a quick talk with you all before we actually get onto the field, because I spent the summer devising a whole new training program, which I really think will make all the difference…"

As Wood talked through the presentation he had worked on over the summer holidays the rest of the team started falling to sleep. While Aileen ended up being a pillow for both Fred and George. It was routine for her too sit between the twins during Quidditch, so she was the one closest for them to lean on.

"So," said Wood, after nearly thirty minutes. "Is that clear? Any questions?"

"I've got a question, Oliver," said George, who had woken with a start when Aileen nudged both him and his brother gentle with her elbows. "Why couldn't you have told us all this yesterday when we were awake?"

Wood wasn't pleased. "Now, listen here, you lot," he said, glowering at them all. "We should have won the Quidditch cup last year. We're easily the best team. But unfortunately - owing to circumstances beyond our control -"

"Yeah about that, Oliver I would like to select one of the first years and train them personally as the reserve seeker." Aileen leaned forward.

"One of the first years?" Oliver asked confused.

"Yes, if no one else was good enough for the team last year, I doubt they are good enough this year. This leaves only the first years." Aileen explained. "Besides, I'm not planning on being unable to play this year. And it won't be breaking the rules or anything. If for some reason I'm unable to play, than the reserve player can use my broom which gets us around the whole 'first years aren't allowed a broom rule'. You should also look into training your own replacements."

"Alright, you can pick and train your reserve." Oliver agreed after a moment of thought. "Okay, let's go and put our new theories into practice!" Wood shouted, seizing his broomstick and leading the way out of the locker rooms.

Stiff-legged and still yawning, his team followed. They had been in the locker room so long that the sun was up completely now, although remnants of mist hung over the grass in the stadium. As Aileen walked onto the field, she saw Ron and Hermione sitting in the stands.

"Aren't you finished yet?" called Ron incredulously.

"Haven't even started," Aileen called back, shaking her headat the toast and marmalade Ron and Hermione had brought out of the Great Hall. "Wood's been teaching us new moves."

She mounted her broomstick and kicked at the ground, soaring up into the air. The cool morning air whipped her face, she allowed a small smile to grace her lips _._ It felt wonderful to be back in the air. She soared right around the stadium at full speed, racing Fred and George.

"Why's that first year taking pictures?" Oliver said joining them with a frown. "I don't like it. He could be a Slytherin spy, trying to find out about our new training program. "

"He's in Gryffindor, I told you he wanted to watch when I walked into the changing room." Aileen frowned disapproving at the older boy.

"And the Slytherins don't need a spy, Oliver," said George.

"What makes you say that?" said Wood testily.

"Because they're here in person," said George, pointing. Several people in green robes were walking onto the field, broomsticks in their hands.

"I don't believe it!" Wood hissed in outrage. "I booked the field for today! We'll see about this!"

Wood shot toward the ground, landing rather harder than he meant to in his anger, staggering slightly as he dismounted. Aileen, Fred, and George followed at a slower pace and joined him on the damp pitch.

"Flint!" Wood bellowed at the Slytherin Captain. "This is our practice time! We got up specially! You can clear off now!"

Marcus Flint was even larger than Wood. He had a look of trollish cunning on his face as he replied, "Plenty of room for all of us, Wood."

Angelina, Alicia, and Katie had come over, too. There were no girls on the Slytherin team, who stood shoulder to shoulder, facing the Gryffindors.

"But I booked the field!" said Wood, positively spitting with rage. "I booked it!"

"Ah," said Flint. "But I've got a specially signed note here from Professor Snape. `I, Professor S. Snape, give the Slytherin team permission to practice today on the Quidditch field owing to the need to train their new Seeker.'"

Aileen took the note from Flint before he could stop her. She would have recognized professor Snape's distinctive scrawl from a mile off – and this was not his writing. They had forged his signature in an attempt to remove the Gryffindor's from the pitch despite the fact that the rules clearly state the only way a team can override another's booking spot, is if all four heads of houses agree. Tucking the note into her pocket, Aileen narrowed her eyes on the team. Professor Snape would be most displeased when he heard that his snakes were using him.

"You've got a new Seeker?" said Wood, distracted. "Where?"

And from behind the six large figures before them came a seventh, smaller boy, smirking all over his pale, pointed face. It was Draco Malfoy.

"Aren't you Lucius Malfoy's son?" said Fred, looking at Malfoy with dislike.

"Funny you should mention Draco's father," said Flint as the whole Slytherin team smiled still more broadly. "Let me show you the generous gift he's made to the Slytherin team."

All seven of them held out their broomsticks. Seven highly polished, brand-new handles and seven sets of fine gold lettering spelling the words Nimbus Two Thousand and One gleamed under the Gryffindors' noses in the early morning sun.

"Very latest model. Only came out last month," said Flint carelessly, flicking a speck of dust from the end of his own. "I believe it outstrips the old Two Thousand series by a considerable amount. As for the old Cleansweeps" - he smiled nastily at Fred and George, who were both clutching Cleansweep Fives - "sweeps the board with them."

Malfoy was smirking so broadly his cold eyes were reduced to slits.

"Nimbus Two Thousand and One's are only half a second faster than the Nimbus Two Thousand. The only difference between the two is that they are better for chasers then they are seekers due to the inbuilt stability charms. The Cleansweep Fives are perfect for beaters because they are sturdier, but fast, which is exactly what they need to be. What's the point in upgrading when the upgrade does not suit your need?" Aileen said lazily from her spot between the Weasley Twins (where she was normally found when around them).

"Oh, look," said Flint, ignoring Aileen while the Gryffindor team smiled thankfully at her. "A field invasion."

Ron and Hermione were crossing the grass to see what was going on.

"Field invasion?" Aileen asked with a raised eyebrow. "What are you doing, exactly?"

"What's happening?" Ron asked Aileen when he reached them. "Why aren't you playing? And what's he doing here?" He was looking at Malfoy, taking in his Slytherin Quidditch robes.

"I'm the new Slytherin Seeker, Weasley," said Malfoy, smugly. "Everyone's just been admiring the brooms my father's bought our team." Ron gaped, open-mouthed, at the seven superb broomsticks in front of him. "Good, aren't they?" said Malfoy smoothly. "But perhaps the Gryffindor team will be able to raise some gold and get new brooms, too. You could raffle off those Cleansweep Fives; I expect a museum would bid for them."

The Slytherin team howled with laughter.

"At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in," said Hermione sharply. "They got in on pure talent."

The smug look on Malfoy's face flickered. "No one asked your opinion, you filthy little Mudblood," he spat.

Flint immediately had to dive in front of Malfoy to stop Fred and George jumping on him, Alicia shrieked:

"How dare you!"

And Ron plunged his hand into his robes, pulled out his wand, yelling: "You'll pay for that one, Malfoy!" and pointed it furiously under Flint's arm at Malfoys face. A loud bang echoed around the stadium and a jet of green light shot out of the wrong end of Ron's wand, hitting him in the stomach and sending him reeling backward onto the grass.

"Ron! Ron! Are you all right?" squealed Hermione.

Ron opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. Instead he gave an almighty belch and several slugs dribbled out of his mouth onto his lap. The Slytherin team were paralysed with laughter. Flint was doubled up, hanging onto his new broom-stick for support. Malfoy was on all fours, banging the ground with his fist. The Gryffindors were gathered around Ron, who kept belching large, glistening slugs.

Aileen knelt at Ron's side and drew her wand frowning in concern; she had dealt with more discussing things then someone throwing up slugs.

"Cessabis Limax!" she said quietly but forcefully. She had been reading up a lot on healing spells and potions, and although she should not have been performing such spells without training, she felt confident enough in her counter-courses to use this spell.

It seemed like the spell had not worked but after a moment, colour had returned to Ron's pale cheeks and he stopped belching slugs. Once she was sure Ron was alright Aileen span on her heel and started advancing on the Slytherin team who stopped laughing at once.

Flint stepped in front of Malfoy as though to protect him but Aileen simple grabbed him by the arm and hip checked him in order to throw him to the floor before turning to Malfoy and punching him solidly across the mouth and glaring down at where he landed on the damp grace.

"Think carefully the next time you insult my friends, Mr. Malfoy." Aileen said coldly before walking straight of the field, the Gryffindor team, Ron, Hermione and Colin following behind her – the previous argument about who had the field forgotten.

Aileen didn't so much as blink when Professor McGonagall came to her later that day and informed her she had one nights worth of detention with Professor Lockhart. Aileen had raised an eyebrow and asked if Malfoy was getting a detention for saying that Hermione had 'dirty-blood' and then walked away.

She found Snape that same day, and despite his glare at the fact she had assaulted one of his students she simply handed over the note the Slytherin's had forged. The team weren't placed in detention but they weren't walking around like they owned the place so Aileen took that to mean Snape had punished them.

Despite her displeasure with McGonagall, she turned up outside Lockhart's office; she knew that attacking other students was against the rules and so she didn't mind having a detention, however she had wished that it was not with Lockhart. She would have gladly taken a detention with Professor Snape over one with Lockhart. She gritted her teeth and knocked. The door flew open at once. Lockhart beamed down at her.

"Ah, here's the scallywag!" he said. "Come in, Aileen, come in."

Shining brightly on the walls by the light of many candles were countless framed photographs of Lockhart. He had even signed a few of them. A large pile of unsigned photos lay on the desk, along with letters and envelopes.

"You can address the envelopes!" Lockhart told Aileen, as though this was a huge treat. "This first one's to Gladys Gudgeon, bless her - huge fan of mine-"

The minutes snailed by. Aileen let Lockhart's voice wash over her, occasionally saying, "Mmm" and "Right" and "Yeah." From her time at the Dursley's she had learnt when to say (or not saying something) without actually listening to the words being spoken.

Now and then she caught a phrase like, "Fame's a fickle friend, Aileen," or "Celebrity is as celebrity does, remember that."

The candles burned lower and lower, making the light dance over the many moving faces of Lockhart watching her. Aileen wasn't sure when but at one point Lockhart put his hand on Aileen's nee making her stiffen. As his hand moved up Aileen grabbed the man's wrist at the joints hard enough to bruise. She may not have been able to stop Vernon from touching, her but she refused to be taken advantage of again for as long as she could fight back. And here, at Hogwarts, she could most defiantly fight back.

Twisting the limb she held in her hand, she pulled it to the point just before she would have broken it, making Lockhart whimper in pain. Not letting up Aileen glared at the man for a minute, making him sweat under the intensity.

"Touch me again and I will not hesitate to remove your balls and shove them down your throat. If I discover you have touched another student I will kill you without hesitation or remorse. Am I understood?" Aileen hissed viciously at the man.

He nodded, and Aileen's nose winkled in disgust when she caught the smell of urine. Aileen released the man, grabbed her bag and left the office without looking back at the pitiful excuse for a human being.

Aileen was nearly at the common room when she heard something. It was a voice, a voice to chill the bone marrow, a voice of breathtaking, ice-cold venom.

 _"Come... Come to me... Let me rip you... Let me tear you... Let me kill you..."_

Aileen's body became ridged, her dagger and wand appearing in her hands as she strained her ears. But she did not hear the voice again.

Word count: 10,978

Copied: 4,186

Edited: 28/08/2017


	13. Chapter 13: Monster Edited

Okay, lets start with: I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER. I'm just happily playing in JK's sand box. I DON'T OWN PERCY JACKSON either. I'm only allowed to play on the swing sets (pouts).

So, the next thing on my list of things to put on the top of this story: I've used a lot of the book structure of the first four years. By this I mean Aileen will be face a troll, save a dragon, go down the third floor, be blamed for opening the chamber, reveal her parseltongue abilities in the dueling club, save Ginny and kill the basilisk, and confront Sirius at the end of third year. Aileen will also be entered into the goblet, however she will be complete the tasks completely differently to Harry. If you don't like stories that do this then this isn't the story for you. Although I divert most majorly from the story line after book four, there are points through the first four years were Aileen dose something that Harry would never do because that is the way I've portrayed my character.

And finally, I have heavily edited the first twenty four chapters. You need to re-read the entire story to understand what happens after that point because it all ties together. By heavily edited, I mean nearly 40% of my story has completely been re-written. There is better characterization, more realistic sword skills and a little bit more on the emotional explanation of my character.

* * *

Chapter 13: year two: Monster in the Walls

Aileen kept a close eye on Lockhart after her detention with him. Fortunately, he never arranged to oversee another detention after the way she had threatened him. However, Aileen ensured that she didn't stop watching over him which gave her piece of mind. She didn't like the idea of leaving the pervert on as a member of staff, but she didn't have the power to have him removed and the inconsistency in the book could be overlooked. She was looking into the methods of stopping the various creatures Lockhart had faced to see if he had made any outright lies (which would be enough proof to have him fired) but it was slow going on top of everything else.

When the first years had their first flying lesson Aileen had a free period so she went down to the pitch and watched. Madam Hooch also allowed her to lead the less confident flyers so that they did not remain on the ground and she could still look after the rest of the class who wanted to do some more advanced flying. Although the majority of the firsties she was looking after were muggle-borns, there were a couple of half-bloods who lived in non-magical areas and so hadn't been allowed to try flying before.

Once the first lesson was over Aileen informed the Gryffindor first years the reserve seeker position was open for trials. Five of them turned up later that week, including Ginny Weasley. Aileen immediately turned one of them down since she had seen him during the flying lesson, he was not skilled enough on a broom for Aileen to take under her wing.

To weed out the others she started putting them through different flying drills. She started slow and started making the tasks more difficult so that she could get rid of those first years which were slightly unbalanced or not able to do fast (controlled) turns. After about ten minutes she had limited the number too two: Ginny Weasley and Michael Grant. Both came from a family of flyers so they had more practice then the others and showed greater potential for the seeker position (she had suggested that the other keeps practicing and try out for chaser/keeper/beater when the position became available in a couple of years).

The final test was catching the golf balls; a test that all new seeker's trying out for Gryffindor had to go through. According to Oliver she had set the record for that by catching every golf ball that had been thrown at her. She levitated twenty five balls and threw them in random directions and at random speeds. Michael was able to catch 13 of his, while Ginny caught 17.

With her seeker picked, Aileen took Ginny out to the pitch and improved her flying skills, her speed and movability for one hour every week. Ginny also took part in the team sessions once a fortnight. Like Aileen had promised, Ginny normally practiced on Aileen's broom while Aileen taught the other girl on the best condition school broom (which Aileen had permission to place with her own to prevent it from being tampered with when she wasn't using it).

As September became October, the grounds became damp and the corridors cold. Madam Pomfrey was swamped by the influx of students and staff who had been struck down with a cold. Her Pepper-Up-Potion, made by Professor Snape _,_ worked instantly, though it left the drinker smoking at the ears for several hours wasn't sure what she preferred, having a cold or looking like her head was on fire for several hours. Luckily, she had always had a very good immune system and she had yet to catch a cold. She was hoping her record would hold true, and she wouldn't need to visit the nurse with something so small.

Raindrops the size of bullets thundered on the castle windows for days on end; the lake rose, the flower beds turned into muddy streams, and Hagrid's pumpkins swelled to the size of garden sheds (the tall man confessed to her during her normal Saturday visit (she had been without Ron or Hermione as was becoming common for her visits) that he had been using a bit of magic to encourage the growth of the pumpkins. It was something he did every year so that the pumpkins could be truly magnificent decoration pieces at the feast).Even for Scotland such torrential rain was odd during October. Alien feared that Zeus was angry at someone again, but she couldn't be sure since she didn't have a way of seeing the signs from other gods and if he was angry at a demi-god then there would be no signs unless she was directly involved.

Oliver Wood's enthusiasm for regular training sessions, was not dampened despite the dampening of the grounds. It was because of this fanatic behavior that Aileen was returning late to the common room on a Saturday afternoon just before Halloween. She was the only member of the team who wasn't talking in the changing rooms in the hopes that they could wait out the storm. It was one of those sessions where Ginny did not join the practice. Even if she had been asked to join that session Aileen would not have allowed it since she had been looking pale recently. Fred and George found it highly amusing that Ginny not only had six overprotective brothers, but had also gained an overprotective sister as well (although they had also sided with Aileen in not letting Ginny out to try when she looked so pale).

Aside from the rain and wind, it hadn't been a happy practice session. Fred and George, who had been spying on the Slytherin team, had seen for themselves the speed of those new Nimbus Two Thousand and Ones. They reported that the Slytherin team was no more than seven greenish blurs, shooting through the air like missiles. This disheartened most of the team, despite Aileen's words of encourage about how badly suited their brooms were for the positions they were playing. And she had never, in the entire year she had been flying, used the top speed on her broom like Slytherin seemed to be doing: it made seeing anything practically impossible especially when it was raining.

Walking along the corridors, she was mostly distracted, trying to think of a way of cheering the team up. She was pulled out of her thoughts when she came across someone who was just as preoccupied as she had been. Nearly Headless Nick, the ghost of Gryffindor Tower, was staring morosely out of a window, muttering under his breath:

"... Don't full fill their requirements... Half an inch, if that... "

"Hello,Nicolas," greeted Aileen. She was one of the few people to call him by his actual name, everyone else called him Nick. Unfortunately, having been without friends for her formative years, Aileen found it difficult to be so familiar with others. She even called Ron by his fall name on several occasions.

"Hello, hello," said Nicolas, starting and looking round. He wore a dashing, plumed hat on his long curly hair, and a tunic with a ruff, which concealed the fact that his neck was almost completely severed. He was pale as smoke, and Aileen could see right through him to the dark sky and torrential rain outside. Ghosts always made her feel slightly disconcerted since they were meant to have passed onto Lord Hades realm, but there were hanging onto the realm of the living. However that didn't stop her from being polite since they were still people.

"You look troubled, young Potter," said Nicolas, folding a transparent letter as he spoke and tucking it in-side his doublet.

"So do you," Aileen countered, remembering that Nicolas had also looked slightly morose this time last year as well.

"Ah," Nicolas waved an elegant hand, "a matter of no importance... It's not as though I really wanted to join... Thought I'd apply, but apparently I 'don't fulfill requirements'." In spite of his airy tone, there was a look of great bitterness on his face. "But you would think, wouldn't you," he erupted suddenly, pulling the letter back out of his pocket, "that getting hit forty-five times in the neck with a blunt axe would qualify you to join the Headless Hunt?"

"Yes," said Aileen, who was obviously supposed to agree.

"I mean, nobody wishes more than I do that it had all been quick and clean, and my head had come off properly, I mean, it would have saved me a great deal of pain and ridicule. However-" Nicolas shook his letter open and read furiously:

"'We can only accept huntsmen whose heads have parted company with their bodies. You will appreciate that it would be impossible otherwise for members to participate in hunt activities such as Horseback Head-Juggling and Head Polo. It is with the greatest regret, therefore, that I must inform you that you do not fulfill our requirements. With very best wishes,

Sir Patrick Delaney-Podmore.'"

Fuming, Nicolas stuffed the letter away. "Half an inch of skin and sinew holding my neck on, Aileen! Most people would think that's good and be headed, but oh, no, it's not enough for Sir Properly Decapitated-Podmore."

Nicolas took several deep breaths and then said, in a far calmer tone, "So - what's bothering you? Anything I can do?"

"No," said Aileen. "It's not something anyone can solve..."

The rest of Aileen's sentence was drowned out by a high-pitched mewling from somewhere near her ankles. She looked down and found herself gazing into a pair of lamp-like yellow eyes. It was Mrs. Norris, the skeletal gray cat who was used by the caretaker, Argus Filch, as a sort of deputy in his endless battle against students.

"Hello," Aileen said softly crouching down and gently stroking Mrs Norris behind the ear. "Are you on petrol?" she asked softly. The cat meowed before purring under Aileen's skillful fingers. She was one of the few people who was nice to Mrs Norris, a little bit of fuse and she wouldn't go running of too Filch every time she's caught out of bounds.

"I wish there was something I could do for you about the Headless Hunt," Aileensaidlooking up at the shocked ghost.

"But there is something you could do for me," said Nicolas excitedly, getting over the shock of seeing a student being kind to Mrs Norris. "Aileen - would I be asking too much – but no, you wouldn't want -"

"What is it?" Aileen prompted.

"Well, this Halloween will be my five hundredth death day," said Nicolas, drawing himself up and looking dignified.

"Right." Aileen nodded to show her understanding.

"I'm holding a party down in one of the roomier dungeons. Friends will be coming from all over the country. It would be such an honour if you would attend. Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger would be most welcome, too, of course - but I daresay you'd rather go to the school feast?"

"No," said Aileen quickly, "I'll come -" she didn't really want to celebrate Halloween since she had never had a good one and so there was no point being surrounded by happy, smiling students.

By the time Halloween arrived,Aileen was glad for herrash promise to go to the death day party. Just as the year before the hall was decorated to perfection, according to the other years. However, the directions were marginally different to what they were the year before. Instead of large black bats flying around the hall, it was rumored that Dumbledore had gotten dancing skeletons. Hagrid's pumpkins had grown large enough for three grown men to sit in. They had been carved out to various different scary faces that were pronounced by the lanterns that would be in them and the dim light of the great hall to give a scary effect.

At seven o'clock,instead of following the rest of the school into the highly decorated Great Hall, Aileen, Hermione (who thought it would be educational) and Ron (who didn't want to be left behind despite the fact that Aileen said he should go to the feast) went down into the dungeons. A row of candles had been lit so that they knew were they going. As they went further down the corridor, it got colder and colder and eventually they heard what sounded like a thousand finger-nails scraping an enormous blackboard.

"Is that supposed to be music?" Ron whispered.

"I think that Nick is trying to create a scary atmosphere." Aileen replied, pulling her robes around her in an attempt to warm up.

They turned a final corner and saw Nicolas standing at a doorway hung with black velvet drapes.

"My dear friends," he said mournfully. "Welcome, welcome... So pleased you could come..."

He swept off his plumed hat and bowed them inside.

Inside the dungeons was something that Aileen had never seen before. Hogwarts held around ten ghosts, but inside the dungeons were hundreds of them. They must have come from around the country just to attend Nicolas' Death Day Party. Most off the people were drifting around the dance floor, waltzing to the music because they were capable of holding each other, although they could not touch physical objects. The noise they had heard coming down the stairs, was thirty saws that appeared to be being used as violins. Nicolas must have gotten the help of Dumbledore to decorate the room because a chandelier hungoverhead blazing amid-night-blue, with a thousand more black candles.

"Shall we have a look around?" Aileensuggested,as her eyes darted between all the ghosts in the room.

"Careful not to walk through anyone," said Ron nervously, and they set off around the edge of the dance floor.

They saw a group of grumpy nuns who appeared to be from the old church of St. Catherine; Aileen had heard Nicolas discussing how they would sing songs to those who entered, and when the mortals realized that there was no one there to sing, they would generally run of screaming instead of being comforted (as was the nuns intention).

Then there was a man in prisoner's uniform and chains, the Fat Friar and a knight (who appeared to have died because of an arrow to the head) were stood having a very animated conversation. When they walked passed Aileen caught that it appeared to have been about some historic battle that they disagreed about how it happened and who truly won.

The Bloody Baron was stood sulking in the corner, most of the other ghosts giving him a wide berth, and anyone who dared to approach him with a smile and the intention of talking were met with a fierce glare. Aileen was tempted to giggle at the sight, for she knew that he was not as grumpy as he appeared. He regularly helped the Slytherin first years during their first week, and if trouble happened while he was about he would either scare the trouble makers off or get a teacher if he believes that it is warranted.

"Oh, no," said Hermione, stopping abruptly. "Turn back, turn back, I don't want to talk to Moaning Myrtle -"

"Who?" Ron asked confused, while Aileen looked for the ghost in question. She had never known Myrtle to leave the bathroom on the first floor.

"She haunts one of the toilets in the girls' bathroom on the first floor," said Hermione.

"She haunts a toilet?" Ron asked incredulously.

"Yes. It's been out-of-order all year because she keeps having tantrums and flooding the place. I never went in there anyway if I could avoid it; it's awful trying to have a pee with her wailing at you-"

"Look, food!" said Ron, causing Aileen to snort: of course Ron would be the one to notice the food. Although, she had told him to eat earlier because she doubted that the ghosts would serve any food at all since they can't eat.

On the other side of the dungeon was a long table, also covered in black velvet. They approached it cautiously but stopped in their tracks, horrified. The smell was quite disgusting. Large, rotten fish were laid on handsome silver platters; cakes, burned charcoal-black, were heaped on salvers; there was a great maggoty haggis, a slab of cheese covered in furry green mold and, in pride of place, an enormous gray cake in the shape of a tombstone, with tar-like icing forming the words,

Sir Nicholas de Mimsy Porpington died 31st October, 1492

Aileen watched, amazed as a portly ghost approached the table, crouched low, and walked through it, his mouth held wide so that it passed through one of the stinking salmon.

"Can you taste it if you walk though it?" Aileen asked himcuriously, she had never seen a ghost walked through food before.

"Almost," said the ghost sadly, and he drifted away.

"I expect they've let it rot to give it a stronger flavour," said Hermione knowledgeably, pinching her nose and leaning closer to look at the putrid haggis.

"Can we move? I feel sick," said Ron.

They had barely turned around, however, when a little man swooped suddenly from under the table and came to a halt in midair before them.

"Hello, Peeves," Aileen greeted calmly. She and Peeves had come to an understanding, he would avoid pranking her, and she would not get him in trouble and give him opportunities and help in playing pranks on the entire student body. From what she had learnt the twins had also made a similar packed with the poltergeists.

"Nibbles?" he said sweetly, offering them a bowl of peanuts covered in fungus.

"No thanks," said Hermione.

"Heard you talking about poor Myrtle," said Peeves, his eyes dancing. "Rude you was about poor Myrtle." He took a deep breath and bellowed, "OY! MYRTLE!"

"Peeves," Aileen warned, realizing were this was going. Peeves had made it his mission to get Myrtle out of the bathroom she inhabited, but as an inherently maleficent spirit he didn't always understand that his actions were not helping.

"Oh, no, Peeves, don't tell her what I said, she'll be really upset," Hermione whispered frantically. "I didn't mean it, I don't mind her really - hello, Myrtle."

The squat ghost of a girl had glided over. She had the glum face, half-hidden behind lank hair and thick, pearly spectacles.

"What?" she said sulkily.

"Hello Myrtle," Aileen greeted calmly, hoping to stop Peeves from causing trouble.

"Oh, hello, Aileen. It's nice to see you again." Myrtle replied brightening slightly.

Aileen smiled softly at the young ghost. Aileen had heard crying the year before and found the source to be Myrtle. Aileen had made an attempt to visit the young girl as often as she could after that, but had not had as many opportunities as she would like to visit since the school year started.

"It's nice to see you around others." Aileen smiled kindly but was interrupted by Peeves.

"Miss Granger was just talking about you -" said Peeves slyly in Myrtle's ear.

"Just saying – saying - how nice you look tonight," said Hermione, glaring at Peeves.

Myrtle eyed Hermione suspiciously. "You're making fun of me," she said, silver tears welling rapidly in her small, see-through eyes.

"No – honestly - didn't I just say how nice Myrtle's looking?" said Hermione, elbowing Ron painfully in the ribs.

"Oh, yeah -"

"Don't lie to me," Myrtle gasped, tears now flooding down her face, while Peeves chuckled happily over her shoulder. "D'you think I don't know what people call me behind my back? Fat Myrtle! Ugly Myrtle! Miserable, moaning, moping Myrtle!"

"You've forgotten pimply," Peeves hissed in her ear. Myrtle burst into anguished sobs and fled from the dungeon. Peeves was about to go after her but stopped at Aileen's glare. Aileen drew her wand and cast a spell that she had learnt the week before. It turned Peeves a violent orange and his cloths into a pink dress. His hair was pulled into sweet little pigtails with heart shapes clips.

"I've told you Peeves, that your words of teasing are not always appreciated. Now you will go and apologies to poor Myrtle." Aileen ordered.

"Yes, Miss Aileen. Sorry Miss Aileen." And with that Peeves fled the room. A couple of ghosts that saw him snorted in laughter but he was quick enough to avoid the attention of most of the room.

Nicolas now drifted toward them through the crowd. "Enjoying yourselves?"

"Oh, yes," they lied.

"Not a bad turnout," said Nicolas proudly. "The Wailing Widow came all the way up from Kent... It's nearly time for my speech, I'd better go and warn the orchestra..."

The orchestra, however, stopped playing at that very moment. All the ghosts in the dungeon, fell silent, looking around in excitement, as a hunting horn sounded.

"Oh, here we go," said Nicolas bitterly.

Through the dungeon wall burst a dozen ghost horses, each ridden by a headless horseman. The assembly clapped wildly; Aileen stopped her friends from doing so when she caught sight of Nicolas's face; this must be the hunt that kept turning him down. The horses galloped into the middle of the dance floor and halted, rearing and plunging. At the front of the pack was a large ghost who held his bearded head under his arm, from which position he was blowing the horn. The ghost leapt down, lifted his head high in the air so he could see over the crowd (everyone laughed), and strode over to Nicolas, squashing his head back onto his neck.

"Nick!" he roared. "How are you? Head still hanging in there?" He gave a hearty guffaw and clapped Nicolas on the shoulder.

"Welcome, Patrick," said Nicolas stiffly, ever the noble gentlemen even when faced with someone he clearly disliked.

"Live 'uns!" said Sir Patrick, spotting Aileen, Ron, and Hermione and giving a huge, fake jump of astonishment, so that his head fell off again (the crowd howled with laughter).

"Very amusing," said Nicolasdarkly as Aileen glared, not remotely impressed with the ghost before her.

"Don't mind Nick!" shouted Sir Patrick's head from the floor. "Still upset we won't let him join the Hunt! But I mean to say - look at the fellow -"

"I think," said Aileen darkly. "Sir Nicolas is a much more frightening ghost then you are. He's also braver, I mean you lost your head in what, one swing? While Nicolas's was still hanging in after over forty; do you know how long it takes to die after being hit in the neck? One minute. Nicolas' would have still been alive and able to feel the pain of each blow for at least the first twelve swings before he finally died with the severing of the main nerves and arteries in the neck. You probably didn't even feel a thing when the axe or sword fell. So not only is he stronger and braver then you, he is also more frightening. You cause people to laugh, not scream in fear. But every year, Nicolas greets the first years and at least one of them screams if not more. You don't deserve to have Nicolas on your stupid headless hunt." Aileen glared slightly at the ghost who was ruining Nicolas's day _._

"Ha!" yelled Sir Patrick's head. "Bet he asked you to say that!"

"Of course he didn't" Aileen said not letting up in her glaring. "Why would he ask me to say it? He wants to join your stupid hunt while I am under the impression that he shouldn't. I mean, all you are is rude and pompous. Your tricks are old and unrealistic. And to top it all off, you barge into Nicolas's party, acting like you are the center of attention and insult him and his guests." Aileen turned to Nicolas with a sad smile. "Thank you for inviting me, Nicolas, I will speak with you tomorrow." And with one last glare at Patrick, Aileen swept from the room. Her friends following behind her.

"Pudding might not be finished yet," said Ron hopefully, as they ascended the steps to the entrance hall. And then Aileen heard it.

 _"... Rip... Tear... Kill... "_

It was the same voice, the same cold, murderous voice she heardafter her detention. She came to a halt, clutching at the stone wall, listening with all her might, looking around, squinting up and down the dimly lit passageway.

"Aileen, what're you -?"

"It's that voice again - shut up a minute -" Aileen hissed at her friends, forgetting that she hadn't told them about the first time she had heard the voice.

 _"... Soo hungry... For so long... "_

"Listen!" said Aileen urgently, and Ron and Hermione froze, watching her in confusion.

 _"... Kill... Time to kill..."_

The voice was growing fainter. Aileen was sure it was moving away - moving upward. A mixture of fear and adrenalinegripped her as she stared at the dark ceiling; how could it be moving upward? Was it a phantom, to whom stone ceilings didn't matter?

"This way," she breathed, drawing her wand, and she began to run, up the stairs, into the entrance hall. It was no good hoping to hear anything here, the babble of talk from the Halloween feast was echoing out of the Great Hall; Aileen sprinted up the marble staircase to the first floor, Ron and Hermione clattering behind her.

"Aileen, what're we-"

"SHH!" Aileen strained her ears. Distantly, from the floor above, and growing fainter still, she heard the voice:

 _"... I smell blood... I SMELL BLOOD!"_

Her stomach lurched. "It's going to kill someone!" she said, and ignoring Ron's and Hermione's bewildered faces, she ran up the next flight of steps three at a time, trying to listen over her own pounding heart- Aileen hurtled around the whole of the second floor, Ron and Hermione panting behind her, not stopping until they turned a corner into the last, deserted passage.

"Aileen, what was that all about?" said Ron, wiping sweat off his face. "I couldn't hear anything... "

But Hermione gave a sudden gasp, pointing down the corridor. "Look!"

Something was shining on the wall ahead. They approached slowly, squinting through the darkness. Foot-high words had been daubed on the wall between two windows, shimmering in the light cast by the flaming torches.

THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE.

"What's that thing - hanging underneath?" said Ron, a slight quiver in his voice.

As they edged nearer, Hermione almost slipped over: there was a large puddle of water on the floor. Aileen steadied Hermione and theyinched towards the message, eyes fixed on a dark shadow beneath it. All three of them realized what it was at once, and leapt backwards with a splash.

Mrs. Norris, the caretaker's cat was hanging by her tail from the torch bracket. She was still as a board, her eyes wide and staring.

For a few seconds, they didn't move. Then Ron said, "Lets get out of here."

"I'm not leaving her like that; Ron, take Hermione and get a teacher," Aileen ordered.

"Aileen…" Hermione hesitated as Aileen stepped forward and gently untangled the cat.

"Go!" Aileen snapped. They both nodded and disappeared down the corridor.

Aileen knelt on the wet floor and lay Mrs. Norris on her lap but frowned when she realized that the cat was warm. From how stiff the cat lay against her she could have been in full rigamortis, but she was too warm for that to be the case and Aileen could not see any signs of lividity that settles after thirty minutes. It took twelve hours for full rigamortis to settle in and if she had been dead that long someone would have noticed.

Aileen looked up when a rumble, as though of a distant thunder, told her that the feast had just ended. From the end of the corridor that Ron and Hermione had just gone down, came the sound of the loud, happy talk of well-fed but curious people; next moment, students were crashing into the passage and in the lead was a frowning professor McGonagall, a strict Professor Snape and Headmaster Dumbledore. The other teachers stopped the students from getting to close, Hermione and Ron at the front.

The three mentioned teachers joined her in the middle of the corridor, and Aileen stood, her back to the crowd so that they could not see Mrs Norris.

"She's not dead professor, her body is too warm. But she's stiff, all her muscles locked together." Aileen said softly.

"Where did you find her?" Dumbledore asked.

"Hanging from the bracket. I got her down while Ron and Hermione went for help." Aileen answered.

"What's going on here? What's going on?" Argus Filch came from the other end of the corridor to the crowd. Then he saw Mrs. Norris cradled gentle in Aileen's arms and fell back, clutching his face in horror.

"My cat! My cat! What's happened to Mrs. Norris?" he shrieked. "You!" he screeched looking at Aileen. "You! You've murdered my cat! You've killed her! I'll kill you! I'll-"

"Argus!" Dumbledore said sternly. "Miss Potter has not harmed Mrs. Norris, she was trying to help her. Now please come with me, Argus," he said to Filch. "You, too, Miss Potter,"

Lockhart stepped forward eagerly. "My office is nearest, Headmaster - just upstairs - please feel free -"

"Thank you, Gilderoy," said Dumbledore.

The silent crowd parted to let them pass. Aileen walked at the headmaster's side, still gently cradling Mrs Norris. Lockhart, looking excited and important, hurried after Dumbledore; so did Professors McGonagall and Snape. McGonagall's face was just as stern as usual but her lip had disappeared showing her anger, while Snape was wearing his usual blank expression, not showing anything of his thoughts. As they entered Lockhart's darkened office there was a flurry of movement across the walls; Aileen saw several of the Lockharts in the pictures dodging out of sight, their hair in rollers. The real Lockhart lit the candles on his desk and stood back.

Aileen lay Mrs. Norris on the polished surface and stepped back to allow Dumbledore to examine her. The tip of Dumbledore's long, crooked nose was barely an inch from Mrs. Norris's fur. He was looking at her closely through his half-moon spectacles, his long fingers gently prodding and poking. Professor McGonagall was bent almost as close, her eyes narrowed. Snape loomed behind them, obviously watching what was going on closely, but not interfering with Dumbledore's examination. And Lockhart was hovering around all of them, making suggestions and being a general distraction.

Lockhart's thoughtless comments were punctuated by Filch's dry, racking sobs. He was slumped in a chair by the desk, unable to look at Mrs. Norris, his face in his hands.

Dumbledore was now muttering strange words under his breath and tapping Mrs. Norris with his wand but nothing happened. By the look on his face, the spells he was using were either counter courses or detection spells – both of which would help him narrow down what happened to Mrs. Norris.

The photographs of Lockhart on the walls were all nodding in agreement as the real one continued to prattle nonsense. One of them had forgotten to remove his hair net. At last Dumbledore straightened up.

"Miss Potter was right in her assessment, she's not dead," he said softly. Lockhart stopped abruptly in the middle of counting the number of murders he had prevented.

"Not dead?" choked Filch, looking through his fingers at Mrs. Norris. "But why's she all - all stiff and frozen?"

"She has been Petrified," said Dumbledore ("Ah! I thought so!" said Lockhart). "But how, I cannot say... "

"Ask her!" shrieked Filch, turning his blotched and tearstained face to Aileen.

"No second year could have done this," said Dumbledore firmly. "It would take Dark Magic of the most advanced…"

But he was cut off by Filch's distraught and angry voice:

"She did it, she did it!" Filch spat, his pouchy face purpling. "You saw what she wrote on the wall! She found - in my office - she knows I'm a - I'm a -" Filch's face worked horribly. "She knows I'm a Squib!" he finished.

"Mr Filch, I live with non-magicals and I am best friends with a Muggleborn. Why would I have anything against squibs?" Aileen asked calmly, hoping to diffuse the situation before Filch got even more unreasonable. She had thought the man had forgotten about that incident. He had tried writing her up for a detention when she left a trial of mud behind her after visiting Hagrid. But he had left her in the office alone when Peeves caused a distraction and she had come across a pamphlet which boasted about being able to help squibs cast magic.

"If I might speak, Headmaster," said Snape from the shadows. "Potter and her friends may have simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time," he said, a slight sneer curling his mouth as though he doubted it. "But we do have a set of suspicious circumstances here. Why was she in the upstairs corridor at all? Why wasn't she at the Halloween feast?"

"I was attending Sir Nicolas's death day party, it was taking place down in one of the empty classroom in the dungeons. Hermione and Ron accompanied me." Aileen answered easily.

"But why not join the feast afterward?" said Snape, his black eyes glittering in the candlelight. "Why go up to that corridor?"

"Becausethe feast was coming to an end, Hermione and I weren't hungry and Ron didn't want to go in alone." Aileen lied not wanting to tell them about thebodiless voice no one but she could hear.

However Snape's sneer became more pronounced. "I suggest, Headmaster, that Potter is not being entirely truthful," he said.

"If I had attacked Mrs Norris, do you honestly think that I would have sent my two friend's looking for a teacher and then remained in the corridor?" Aileen demanded.

"There is no evidence at all that Potter has done anything wrong." Professor McGonagall agreed.

Dumbledore was giving Aileen a searching look that she met head on. The only thing she had lied about was why she was in that corridor and she refused to mention the voice until she knew _why_ she was hearing it. She didn't trust adults easily, and right now there was no one at Hogwarts who could prove that they had earned her trust. Not even Dumbledore because he was still holding information, which she should know, away from her.

"Innocent until proven guilty, Severus," he said firmly. Snape looked furious. So did Filch.

"My cat has been Petrified!" he shrieked, his eyes popping. "I want to see some punishment!"

"We will be able to cure her, Argus," said Dumbledore patiently. "Professor Sprout recently managed to procure some Mandrakes. As soon as they have reached their full size, I will have a potion made that will revive Mrs. Norris. "

"I'll make it," Lockhart butted in. "I must have done it a hundred times. I could whip up a Mandrake Restorative Draught in my sleep-"

"Excuse me," said Snape icily. "But I believe I am the Potions master at this school."

There was a very awkward pause.

"You may go," Dumbledore said to Aileen.

Aileen nodded and left the room. She headed to the common room and found Ron and Hermione waiting for her outside the Portrait of the Fat Lady. Aileen motioned for them to follow her into an empty classroom. Once inside she explained that had happened in the office.

"D'you think I should have told them about that voice I heard?" She asked once she had finished recounting the events.

"No," said Ron, without hesitation. "Hearing voices no one else can hear isn't a good sign, even in the wizarding world."

Something in Ron's voice made Aileen ask, "You do believe me, don't you?"

"Course I do," said Ron quickly, to quickly in Aileen's opinion _._ "But -you must admit it's weird..."

Word count: 6,047

Copied: 2,623

Edited: 28/08/2017


	14. Chapter 14: Warnings Edited

Okay, lets start with: I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER. I'm just happily playing in JK's sand box. I DON'T OWN PERCY JACKSON either. I'm only allowed to play on the swing sets (pouts).

So, the next thing on my list of things to put on the top of this story: I've used a lot of the book structure of the first four years. By this I mean Aileen will be face a troll, save a dragon, go down the third floor, be blamed for opening the chamber, reveal her parseltongue abilities in the dueling club, save Ginny and kill the basilisk, and confront Sirius at the end of third year. Aileen will also be entered into the goblet, however she will be complete the tasks completely differently to Harry. If you don't like stories that do this then this isn't the story for you. Although I divert most majorly from the story line after book four, there are points through the first four years were Aileen dose something that Harry would never do because that is the way I've portrayed my character.

And finally, I have heavily edited the first twenty four chapters. You need to re-read the entire story to understand what happens after that point because it all ties together. By heavily edited, I mean nearly 40% of my story has completely been re-written. There is better characterization, more realistic sword skills and a little bit more on the emotional explanation of my character.

* * *

Chapter 14: Year two: Polyjuice Potion and Warnings

Following the attack on Mrs. Norris the school was fall of gossip. The students couldn't talk of anything else for an extended period of time before they went back to gossiping about what might have happened despite the fact that the teachers weren't releasing any information on what happened (mostly because they didn't really know what happened).

Filch didn't help in reducing the rumors that were floating around or stepping them since he spent most of his time pacing around the corridor where Mrs. Norris had been attacked. Since the corridor was by one of the main roots from the upper floors to the lower ones, the students were constantly reminded of what happened. The fact that the words on the wall couldn't be removed despite Flitch's best efforts also ensued the students continued questioning what might had been the sauce of the attack.

Ginny seemed to become very upset following the attacks, and when Aileen approached Ron about it (he was the brother closest to her age so Aileen had hoped he would have insight into what was wrong) he dismissed her distress as being due to Ginny's love of cats. However, Aileen believed it was something else. Aileen let the younger girl know that if she needed to talk about anything, she was there to listen. The other girl was always an ill pale now but Aileen made sure that she ate a decent amount of food and that she was wrapped up warmly – she pulled the twins into helping her with her campaign to ensure that Ginny was alright since they were both very protective of their family. She also thought about pulling in Percy to help, but he was also starting to look stress as he made sure to seat by the first years in the common room so they knew he was available. Aileen figured that between the three of them, they had Ginny covered and Percy was still watching over her while also keeping an eye on the other first years to make sure they weren't too upset over what had happened.

The attack had also had an effect on Hermione. It was not out of the norm for Hermione to spend a lot of time reading, however after the attacks it seemed that Hermione was doing nothing but read despite Aileen's best attempts at interference. Aileen figured that if continued into a second week she would in list the help of her dorm mates to stage an intervention. Whenever she asked what Hermione was up to, she wouldn't respond. Aileen had a lot of trouble getting the other girl to leave the library long enough to get something to eat.

It wasn't until the Wednesday following the attack that they found out what had captured Hermione's attention.

Aileen arrived in the library after speaking with Fred and George, abolishing them for their latest prank (it was not well executed, and nearly hurt a couple of students), and found Ron at the back of the library, measuring his History of Magic homework. Professor Binns had asked for a three-foot long composition on 'The Medieval Assembly of European Wizards.' Ron had been complaining about it all week – especially considering the fact that Binns never marked their essays – but had not got around to actually writing it until the night before.

"I don't believe it, I'm still eight inches short..." said Ron furiously, letting go of his parchment, which sprang back into a roll. "And Hermione's done four feet seven inches and her writing's tiny."

"Where is she?" asked Aileen, grabbing the tape measure and unrolling her own homework to make sure she had done the right amount.

It was something she did regularly despite the fact that she always did the exact amount that was required. It was something that differed between the friends and probably said a lot about their personalities. Ron almost always ended up not writing enough, and he wrote as big as he could get away with to cover the extra inches. Hermione always wrote too much, and her hand writing was tiny so that she could get in as much information as she could. It wasn't unusual for Hermione to add nearly an extra half foot to her parchment although Aileen was trying to curb her of this habit because it wasn't doing her any good with the teachers. She knew that Snape – at the least – stop marking after the assigned length which was why Hermione never received higher than an EE in her assignments (which pushed her to write more). Then there was Aileen who always wrote the exact amount, keeping on topic an not adding anything unrelated to the subject although she made sure to thoroughly research and source all her assignments.

"Somewhere over there," said Ron, pointing along the shelves. "Looking for another book. I think she's trying to read the whole library before Christmas."

As though summoned by Ron's snarky comment, Hermione emerged from the shelves. She was looking distinctly ruffled since she hadn't allowed Aileen or any of her dorm mates to help her since Halloween. She was also looking irritated so Aileen made the assumption that whatever Hermione was looking for had yet to be found.

"All the copies of Hogwarts, A History have been taken out," Hermione huffed, slumping into the empty seat next to Aileen. "And there's a two-week waiting list. I wish I hadn't left my copy at home, but I couldn't fit it in my trunk with all the Lockhart books."

"Why didn't you ask, I have mine in my trunk?" Aileen informed her. It was another of those things Aileen was trying to get Hermione to do – speaking about her through processes with others and actually tell them what she was looking for or had discovered since she had a bad habit of just gallivanting off on her own when they were supposed to be working on a group project. Aileen figured it had something to do with her primary school years and lack of intelligent friends. However, Aileen and her other partner's in class were willing to pull their own weight (or in Ron's case Aileen wouldn't let him slack off) and so she needed to learn to actual talk with them.

"Why do you want it, anyway?" Aileen questioned, deciding she needed to speak with Hermione on a one-to-one basis again at some point soon.

"The same reason everyone else wants it," Hermione answered, slumping her shoulders as she realized what Aileen's first question was hinting at. She should have spoken with her friend last week, instead of ignoring and snapping at her. "To read up on the legend of the Chamber of Secrets."

"I remember reading something about that." Aileen said frowning in thought as she tried to recall the information. She had been more interested in researching more about the wards she had read in the book she had taken from the library over the Christmas last year so she hadn't read too much into the founder's yet although it was on her list. But she did recall some of the basic information on the Snake Founder from Hermione's favorite book. "Salazar Slytherin's secret chamber is said to contain a monster waiting to be unleashed on the school, I think. I can't remember. What do you know?"

"That's just it. I can't remember, either" said Hermione, biting her lip. "And I can't find the story anywhere else -"

"Hermione, let me read your composition," said Ron desperately cut in, checking his watch. He knew Aileen wouldn't let him look at hers since she had reminded him every day to do the assignment since two days after it was given and since he hadn't taken her advice, she didn't see why she should help him now. If he had been asking two or three days ago, then she would have gladly pointed to him to the relevant texts and page numbers, but he knew he was too late. However, Hermione would sometimes help him if she was in the right mood.

"No, I won't," said Hermione, suddenly severe. "You've had ten days to finish it -"

"I only need another two inches, come on-"

The bell rang. Ron and Hermione led the way to History of Magic, bickering.

History of Magic was easily the most boring class at school. Although the concept of being taught history by a ghost was a good one, Professor Binns had a dull, droning voice that always succeeded to put the majority of the class asleep. Those that stayed awake didn't pay attention – games were played and homework completed at this time. Hermione was the only one who took notes on what was being said, while Aileen read books on history she had taken from the library for just this purpose. She even made notes on parchment so that she could go back over what she had learnt.

Their lesson that day began as it always did. As soon as the final bell rang, Binns opened his notes (which was still a concept that baffled Aileen) and began to read in his flat droning voice. The twins – acting on Aileen's advice – had snuck into the classroom and gotten a copy of all seven stacks of notes from Binns desk (each one representing a year) and Aileen was slowly going through it and compiling a useful revision book with additional references when she had the free time. Her history reading in Binns class was half spend on this, the other half was spent on other historical points that interested her. So far she had completed the booklet for the first two years, and was half-way through third year. Since she would have the time over the summer holidays, Aileen had decided to put the write up on hold and was simply gathering her data and references for the final five years and she would finish writing it over the holidays.

Peripherally Aileen noticed as the rest of her class began dropping into their normal stupor or distracted games as Binns continued drowning on about various important dates, names, constitutions and battles that had happened. Although there first year was 40% goblin rebellion this year's content was on 10% goblin rebellion and there was no further goblin rebellions until they appeared again in the OWLs. Instead, Binns had moved onto the more important historical facts such as why the Statue of Secrecy was implemented, how and why. It was something Aileen though the rest of the class should really be paying attention to, but no one was even rousing long enough to write down an important date or name.

This state of affairs continued for the first thirty minutes of class when something unprecedented happened. Hermione raised her hand. Although in any other class it would not have been unusual. However, no one ever tried to interrupt Binns or ask him a question. The student's just didn't care enough, or didn't have the energy, to try and do so. But Hermione proved her bull-headed stubbornness by holding her hand in the air until she was noticed by the ghost.

"Miss - er -?" Binns questioned, his voice confused and showing his bafflement. Aileen didn't blame him, he probably hadn't been interrupted during a lecture since he died and he had probably only looked up from habit which had carried over since his death.

"Granger, Professor. I was wondering if you could tell us anything about the Chamber of Secrets," said Hermione in a clear voice.

Dean Thomas, who had been sitting with his mouth hanging open, gazing out of the window, jerked out of his trance; Lavender Brown's head came up off her arms and Neville's elbow slipped off his desk. The other students who were awake turned to stare at either Hermione or Binns, while trying to wake the closest sleeping student so they could hear what Binns had to say. Professor Binns blinked.

"My subject is History of Magic," he said in his dry, wheezy voice. "I deal with facts, Miss Granger, not myths and legends." He cleared his throat with a small noise and continued, "In September of that year, a subcommittee of Sardinian sorcerers -" He stuttered to a halt. Hermione's hand was waving in the air again. "Miss Grant?"

"Please, sir, don't legends always have a basis in fact?"

Binns stared at Hermione for a long moment without saying anything. "Well, yes, one could argue that, I suppose." Binns conceded after a lengthy moment of thought. He was starting to look more awake and engaged then Aileen had ever seen him as he studied Hermione. "However, the legend of which you speak is such a very sensational, even ludicrous tale -" Binns cut himself off when he realized that he had the entire classes' undivided attention. It was something he hadn't had in a long time and Aileen could see is annoyance at it happening over something that he considered to be completely unrelated to his subject and based in myth.

"Oh, very well," he said slowly. "Let me see... The Chamber of Secrets... You all know, of course, that Hogwarts was founded over a thousand years ago - the precise date is uncertain - by the four greatest witches and wizards of the age. The four school Houses are named after them: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin. They built this castle together, far from prying Muggle eyes, for it was an age when magic was feared by common people, and witches and wizards suffered much persecution."

He paused, gazed blearily around the room, and continued. "For years the founders worked, mostly in harmony. They taught the young minds of the time how to use and hide their magic. However, Salazar Slytherin and Godric Gryffindor were regularly reported to argue. One of the biggest disagreements that sprang up between the founders was who they should teach. Slytherin wished to only teach magic to those of all-magic families. He disliked taking students of Muggle parentage, believing them to be untrustworthy. After a while, there was a serious argument on the subject between Slytherin and Gryffindor, and Slytherin left the school." Professor Binns paused again, pursing his lips, looking like a wrinkled old tortoise. "Reliable historical sources tell us this much," he said even as Aileen narrowed her eyes in disagreement.

From what she had read there were no reliable pieces of historical evidence from that time – documents didn't start springing up until around the thirteen hundreds stating what had happened. She had done little research into the founders, her attention focused elsewhere, but she made a promised to herself that she would move such research closer to the top of her list because it was now becoming apparent that whatever was happening at Hogwarts this year seemed to have a connection with the schools founding.

"But these honest facts have been obscured by the fanciful legend of the Chamber of Secrets. The story goes that Slytherin had built a hidden chamber in the castle, of which the other founders knew nothing." Binns tone of voice told the whole class that he did not believe this to be possible _._

"Slytherin, according to the legend, sealed the Chamber of Secrets so that none would be able to open it until his own true heir arrived at the school. The heir alone would be able to unseal the Chamber of Secrets, unleash the horror within, and use it to purge the school of all who were unworthy to study magic."

"I always knew Salazar Slytherin was a twisted old loony," Ron told Aileen and Hermione as they fought their way through the teeming corridors at the end of the lesson to drop off their bags before dinner. "But I never knew he started all this pureblood stuff. I wouldn't be in his house if you paid me. Honestly, if the Sorting Hat had tried to put me in Slytherin, I'd've got the train straight back home..."

Hermione nodded fervently, but Aileen didn't say anything. She had never told Ron and Hermione that the Sorting Hat had seriously considered putting her in Slytherin. The only reasons she had not ended up in the House of the Snakes was because she had asked the hat to place her with her friends and because she had not wanted to spend the next seven years living in close quarters with someone as arrogant as Malfoy. But even now, after the hassle of the House of Snakes and their head, she didn't have a general hatred to all things Slytherin. And she very much doubted that the story of Salazar Slytherin is as simple as it is portrayed – after all the founders had to have been very close friends to build a school as magnificent as this. Then there was the many famous Slytherins that had graduated from Hogwarts and gone onto do great things.

As they were shunted along in the throng, Colin Creevy went past. "Hiya, Aileen!"

"Hello, Colin," Aileen automatically respondedsince Colin had taken to saying hello to her every time they passed in the corridor.

"Aileen – Aileen - a boy in my class has been saying you're -"

But Colin was so small he couldn't fight against the tide of people bearing him toward the Great Hall; they heard him squeak, "See you, Aileen!" and he was gone.

"What's a boy in his class saying about you?" Hermione wondered.

"That I'm Slytherin's heir, I expect," Aileen answered with a grumble. She had seen students turn and walk in the opposite direction of her all week, or walk as far from her down the corridor as they could. She had even seen Justin of Hufflepuff turn and run away when he saw her. It seemed she was about to be facing another school term of being ostracized by the students who didn't think about the evidence before them and felt like blaming Aileen, except this time it wasn't about points and the house cup. All Aileen could hope for was that her friends were not drawn into the bullying this time and that perhaps the teachers would notice and take action unlike the year before.

"People here'll believe anything," said Ron in disgust. The crowd thinned and they were able to climb the next staircase without difficulty. "D'you really think there's a Chamber of Secrets?" Ron asked Hermione, who was generally the source of knowledge and logic unless it was in a strenuous situation.

"I don't know," she said, frowning. "Dumbledore couldn't cure Mrs. Norris, and that makes me think that whatever attacked her might not be – well - human."

As she spoke, they turned a corner and found themselves at the end of the very corridor where the attack had happened. They stopped and looked. The scene was just as it had been that night, except that there was no stiff cat hanging from the torch bracket, and an empty chair stood against the wall bearing the message.

"That's where Filch has been keeping guard," Ron muttered. They looked at each other. The corridor was deserted.

"Can't hurt to have a poke around," saidAileen crouching down and looking closely around the corridor: her instincts had been streaming danger since Halloween and she needed to know what she was facing encase it could sniff her out as a demigod (although from what she could tell magical creatures didn't have the same blood-thirst for demigods that monsters had).

"Scorch marks!" she said. "Here - and here -" Aileen pointed to the edge of both sides of the corridor, noticing that it ran along the majority of the corridor. But it was faded and Aileen couldn't tell where the trail started, ended, or led. Too much time had passed and the walls of the castle were very strong and so the marks were only just visible to her sharp eyes. Perhaps if she had been able to probably examine the corridor when it first happened she would have gotten directionality from the marks, but she wouldn't get anything from it now other than the thing they were looking for was big and fast.

"Come and look at this!" said Hermione. "This is funny..."

Hermione was pointing at a long line of spiders, who were climbing a single silvery thread in order to reach the top most pane. There, there was a small group of the spiders fighting to be the first to get through the small crack. Aileen had never seen anything like it, it was as though the spiders were terrified of something and wanted out of the castle as quickly as they could.

"Have you ever seen spiders act like that?" said Hermione wonderingly.

"Never, something must have spooked them – they're evacuating the castle." Aileen said, frowning in thought. "What do you think, Ron?" Aileen turned to Ron who hadn't said anything yet. She found him standing as far back from the wall as he could and he appeared to be fighting his instinct to run.

"What'swrong?"Aileen asked in concern at seeing his fear.

"I - don't – like - spiders," said Ron tensely.

"I never knew that," said Hermione, looking at Ron in surprise. "You've used spiders in Potions loads of times..."

"I don't mind them dead," said Ron, who was carefully looking anywhere but at the window. "I just don't like the way they move..." Hermione giggled. "It's not funny," said Ron, fiercely. "If you must know, when I was three, Fred turned my - my teddy bear into a dirty great spider because I broke his toy broomstick... You wouldn't like them either, if you'd been holding your bear and suddenly it had too many legs and..." He broke off, shuddering.

Hermione was obviously still trying not to laughwhile Aileen nodded in understanding. She didn't have a fear of spiders because she had shared a living space with them, but she had no doubt that if she had been forced to spend only one or two nights in the cupboard every now and then she would have grown to fear them instead of accept them. And she was aware that all children of the goddess Athena had a fear of spiders because of the curse Athena cast on Arachne.

Feeling they had better get off the subject before Hermione insulted Ron and started another argument, Aileen said, "Remember all that water on the floor? Where did that come from? Someone's mopped it up."

"It was about here," said Ron, recovering himself to walk a few paces past Filch's chair and pointing. "Level with this door." He reached for the brass doorknob but suddenly withdrew his hand as though he'd been burned.

"What's the matter?" said Aileen, coming over to see the door.

"Can't go in there," said Ron gruffly. "That's a girls' toilet."

"Oh, Ron, there won't be anyone in there," said Hermione, standing up and coming over. "That's Moaning Myrtle's place. Come on, let's have a look."

And ignoring the large OUT of ORDER sign, she opened the door. Aileen hadn't been in these toilets before. Whenever she spoke with Myrtle it was in any of the many other bathrooms since the young ghost was prone to wondering the pipes. The bathroom was in the worst condition out of all the bathrooms in the school. Water pooled on the floor, mirrors hung cracked on the wall and a few of the stool doors where hanging off their hinges.

"Hello, Myrtle?"Aileen called walking down the bathroom, looking into the stools to see if the young ghost was home.

She found Myrtle in the end stool, floating above the tank of the toilet, picking a spot on her chin. She looked rather board, something Aileen new happened a lot with the ghost, since there was not much she could do. The other ghosts did talk with her, but not often because she was still a teenage girl while – out of all the other ghosts in the school – the Grey Lady was youngest at around 25/30 years. There was too much of an age difference for them to have much in common so their conversations didn't last long and they didn't happened often either.

"This is a girls' bathroom," she said, eyeing Ron suspiciously. "He's not a girl."

"No," Hermione agreed. "I just wanted to show him how er – nice it is in here." She waved vaguely at the dirty old mirror and the damp floor – Aileen made a mental note to teach Hermione how to lie better.

"Myrtle," Aileen said softly, before Hermione could be called out on her lie. "We were wondering if you saw anything on Halloween? Because a cat was attacked right outside your front door on Halloween. Did you see anyone near here that night?"

"I wasn't paying attention," said Myrtle dramatically. "Peeves upset me so much I came in here and tried to kill myself. Then, of course, I remembered that I'm - that I'm"

"Already dead," said Ron helpfully.

Myrtle gave a tragic sob, rose up in the air, turned over, and dived headfirst into the toilet, splashing water all over them and vanishing from sight, although from the direction of her muffled sobs, she had come to rest somewhere in the U-bend.

Aileen, Ron and Hermione where sat in the common room later that night, trying to avoid Percy who Ron had had an argument with earlier on in the day about responsibility and looking after Ginny. Percy had seen them coming out of the girl's bathroom and responded in a rash, angry way since he didn't want the three of them encouraging the rumors that were floating about by being seen where Mrs. Norris was attacked. Aileen, however, was confused on how Ginny got brought into the debate.

Despite the time that had passed, Ron was still in a foal temper. Aileen had convinced him to try and concentrate on his charms homework which was due the day after tomorrow, but he kept blotting the parchment. As he had done for every assignment the year before, Ron absently reached for his wand so that he could remove he smudges. However, the spell didn't work as it was supposed to and it set the parchment alight. Knowing there was no saving it, Aileen grabbed the parchment and through it in the fire before it could burn anything else.

Ron slammed his Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2 shut, silently stating he was giving up on his homework as he sat back on his chair – fuming. To Aileen's surprise, Hermione followed suitbut she was gentler with the book she was currently pursuing.

"Who can it be, though?" she said in a quiet voice, as though continuing a conversation they had just been having. "Who'd want to frighten all the Squibs and Muggleborns out of Hogwarts?"

"Let's think," said Ron in mock puzzlement. "Who do we know who thinks Muggleborns are scum?" He looked at Hermione. Hermione looked back, unconvinced.

"If you're talking about Malfoy -"

"Of course I am!" said Ron. "You heard him call you a Mudblood; come on, you've only got to look at his foul rat face to know it's him -"

"Malfoy, the Heir of Slytherin?" said Hermione skeptically.

"Look at his family," said Ron as Aileenalso closed her book, deciding that she wouldn't be able to get anymore work done with the two of them conspiring. "The whole lot of them have been in Slytherin; he's always boasting about it. They could easily be Slytherin's descendants. His father's definitely evil enough. They could've had the key to the Chamber of Secrets for centuries! Handing it down, father to son... "

"Well," said Hermione cautiously, "I suppose it's possible... "

"But how do we prove it?" Aileen questioned, not willing to give voice to her opinion on who she thought it was especially since she didn't want to wrongfully accuse someone like she was being accused. She had many reasons to doubt it was Malfoy, but the most prominent one being that the Malfoy family originated from France seven hundred years ago. There was no way for them to be descended of Slytherin unless one of Slytherin heir's married into the family and if that was the case, they would not be hiding the fact that Luscious Malfoy is Lord Slytherin.

"There might be a way," said Hermione slowly, dropping her voice still further with a quick glance across the room at Percy despite the fact that he was too far away to hear. "Of course, it would be difficult. And dangerous, very dangerous. We'd be breaking about fifty school rules, I expect -"

"If, in a month or so, you feel like explaining, you will let us know, won't you?" said Ron irritably, never having been one to learn patience.

"All right," said Hermione coldly. "What we'd need to do is to get inside the Slytherin common room and ask Malfoy a few questions without him realising it's us."

"But that's impossible," Aileensaidwith a questioning eyebrow raised, as Ron laughed at the incredibility of the idea.

"No, it's not," said Hermione. "All we'd need would be some Polyjuice Potion."

"What's that?" said Ron and Aileen frowned in thought as she tried to remember where she had heard that name.

"Snape mentioned it in class a few weeks ago -"

"D'you think we've got nothing better to do in Potions than listen to Snape?" muttered Ron.

"It transforms you into somebody else. Think about it! We could change into three of the Slytherins. No one would know it was us. Malfoy would probably tell us anything. He's probably boasting about it in the Slytherin common room right now, if only we could hear him."

"This Polyjuice stuff sounds a bit dodgy to me," said Ron, frowning. "What if we were stuck looking like three of the Slytherins forever?"

"It wears off after a while," said Hermione, waving her hand impatiently as though there was nothing to worry about. "But getting hold of the recipe will be very difficult. Snape said it was in a book called Moste Potente Potions and it's bound to be in the Restricted Section of the library."

There was only one way to get out a book from the Restricted Section (without the use of the invisibility cloak and a ten day window; something Aileen was not about to tell Hermione): You needed a signed note of permission from a teacher.

After the pixie incident, Lockhart had refrained from brining live creatures to class. Instead, he read from the drivel he called a book. During the more 'dramatic' parts of the book he would get students to reenact it. For some reason, Lockhart had decided that Aileen was the best person to reconstruction the scenarios.

Aileenwas hauled to the front of the class during their very next Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson, this time acting a every other time she had been taken to the front of the classroom, Aileen kept her face completely blank and when she was forced to speak she used her this-is-ridiculous-and-I-hate-you-voice that she had developed just for Lockhart. The Slytherins in the room seemed to find it highly amusing since none of them brought into the crap that Lockhart was sprouting.

"Nice loud howl, Aileen – exactly - and then, if you'll believe it, I pounced - like this - slammed him to the floor - thus with one hand, I managed to hold him down - with my other, I put my wand to his throat -I then screwed up my remaining strength and performed the immensely complex Homorphus Charm - he let out a piteous moan - the fur vanished - the fangs shrank - and he turned back into a man. Simple, yet effective - and another village will remember me forever as the hero who delivered them from the monthly terror of werewolf attacks."

The bell rang and Lockhart got to his feet.

"Homework - compose a poem about my defeat of the Wagga Wagga Werewolf! Signed copies of Magical Me to the author of the best one!"

The class began to leave. Aileen returned to the back of the room, where Ron and Hermione were waiting.

"We'll wait till everyone's gone," said Hermione nervously. "All right..."

She approached Lockhart's desk, a piece of paper clutched tightly in her hand, Aileen and Ron right behind her.

"Er - Professor Lockhart?" Hermione stammered. "I wanted to - to get this book out of the library. Just for background reading." She held out the piece of paper, her hand shaking slightly. "But the thing is, it's in the Restricted Section of the library, so I need a teacher to sign for it - I'm sure it would help me understand what you say in Gadding with Ghouls about slow-acting venoms..."

"Ah, Gadding with Ghouls!" said Lockhart, taking the note from Hermione and smiling widely at her. "Possibly my very favourite book. You enjoyed it?"

"Oh, yes," said Hermione eagerly. "So clever, the way you trapped that last one with the tea-strainer-"

"Well, I'm sure no one will mind me giving the best student of the year a little extra help," said Lockhart warmly, and he pulled out an enormous peacock quill. "Yes, nice, isn't it?" he said, misreading the revolted look on Ron's face. "I usually save it for book-signings." He scrawled an enormous loopy signature on the note and handed it back to Hermione.

"I don't believe it," Aileen said as the three of them examined the signature on the note after making it a safe distance from the classroom. "He didn't even look at the book we wanted."

"That's because he's a brainless git," said Ron. "But who cares, we've got what we needed-"

"He is not a brainless git," said Hermione shrilly as they headed toward the library.

"Just because he said you were the best student of the year-"

They dropped their voices as they entered the muffled stillness of the library. Madam Pince, the librarian, was a thin, irritable woman who looked like an underfed vulture.

"Moste Potente Potions?" she repeated suspiciously, trying to take the note from Hermione; but Hermione wouldn't let go.

"I was wondering if I could keep it," she said breathlessly.

"Oh, come on," said Ron, wrenching it from her grasp and thrusting it at Madam Pince. "We'll get you another autograph. Lockhart'll sign anything if it stands still long enough."

Five minutes later, they were barricaded in Moaning Myrtle's out-of order bathroom once again. Hermione had overridden Ron's objections by pointing out that it was the last place anyone in their right minds would go, so they were guaranteed some privacy.

Myrtle had once more taken to crying in her stall, but Aileen left her too it since interrupting myrtle during a good cry could turn her anger on you. Hermione was the one in control of the book (she wouldn't even let Aileen and Ron touch it) as she turned page after page, looking for the potion they wanted. From what little she was able to gleam of the rest of the book, Aileen could understand why it was in the restricted section. Almost every potion came with an illustration that showed the taker to be in great pain. Making a mental note to herself, Aileen promised herself to go through the book and write out the instructions for potions that she might find useful in the future.

"Here it is," said Hermione excitedly as she found the page headed The Polyjuice Potion. It was decorated with drawings of people halfway through transforming into other people. Aileen sincerely hoped the artist had imagined the looks of intense pain on their faces: she had experienced more than enough pain in her life without personally inflicting it on herself.

"This is the most complicated potion I've ever seen," said Hermione as they scanned the recipe.

"Hermione, we're second years and that book is from the restricted section; I should hope it is the most complicated potion you know the existence off." Aileen informed her friend as she leant forward to read the ingredients and process

"Lacewing flies, leeches, fluxweed, and knotgrass," Hermione murmured, running her finger down the list of ingredients as she chose to ignore Aileen's sarcasm. "Well, they're easy enough, they're in the student store cupboard, we can help ourselves... Oooh, look, powdered horn of a Bicorn - don't know where we're going to get that - shredded skin of a Boomslang; that'll be tricky, too and of course a bit of whoever we want to change into."

"Excuse me?" said Ron sharply. "What d'you mean, a bit of whoever we're changing into? I'm drinking nothing with Crabbe's toenails in it -"

Hermione continued as though she hadn't heard him. "We don't have to worry about that yet, though, because we add those bits last..." Ron turned, speechless, to Aileen, who had another worry (she had probably tasted things far worse than this potion before).

"What are we going to do about the ingredients not in the student cupboard, Hermione? Like the shredded skin of a boomslang. The only place I can think that would be is Snape's private stores. What are you planning to break into it?

Aileen had stolen before but she detested having to do so and she especially disliked the idea of stealing from Snape who she knew had tried to protect her the year before. She was thinking about sending an owl to the apothecary asking for the ingredients they would need, but she wasn't certain she would be able to get them. Unless she research other –less harmful – potions that's required it and mentioned how she was looking to brew them.

Hermione shut the book with a snap. "Well, if you two are going to chicken out, fine," she said. There were bright pink patches on her cheeks and her eyes were brighter than usual. "I don't want to break rules, you know. I think threatening Muggleborns is far worse than brewing up a difficult potion. But if you don't want to find out if it's Malfoy, I'll go straight to Madam Pince now and hand the book back in..."

"I never thought I'd see the day when you'd be persuading us to break rules," said Ron, probably remembering the strict rule abiding Hermione from the year before. "All right, we'll do it. But not toenails, okay?"

"How long will it take to make, anyway?" said Aileen resignedly as Hermione, looking happier, opened the book again. She would contact the apothecary as soon as she could in regards to the ingredients and hopefully prevent any theft.

"Well, since the fluxweed has got to be picked at the full moon and the lacewings have got to be stewed for twenty-one days... I'd say it'd be ready in about a month, if we can get all the ingredients. "

"A month?" said Ron. "Malfoy could have attacked half the Muggleborns in the school by then!" But Hermione's eyes narrowed dangerously again, and he added swiftly, "But it's the best plan we've got, so full steam ahead, I say."

"Slytherin has better brooms than us," Oliver Wood began. "No point denying it. But we've got better people on our brooms. We've trained harder than they have, we've been flying in all weathers -"

("Too true," muttered George. "I haven't been properly dry since August")

"and we're going to make them rue the day they let that little bit of slime, Malfoy, buy his way onto their team." Chest heaving with emotion, Wood turned to Aileen. "It'll be down to you, Aileen, to show them that a Seeker has to have something more than a rich father. Get to that Snitch before Malfoy or die trying, Aileen, because we've got to win today, we've got to."

"So no pressure, Aileen" said Fred, winking at her. Aileen just rolled her eyes, amused, she never understood Woods' obsession with winning.

When the team entered the pitch, they were immediately engulfed by the noise of the crowd. It was mostly cheers from the Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws who were hoping they would beat Slytherin and therefore give them a better chance at the cup. But just because they were the minority, didn't mean that the Slytherins didn't make themselves herd with their hissing and booing.

Madam Hooch as she always did was playing referee. She went through the normal process of asking the two captains to shake hands (it was meant to encourage sportsmanship). However, the rivalry between Flint and Wood was greater than the normal Slytherin and Gryffindor rivalry so they attempted to break each other's hands and glare the other into submission.

"On my whistle," said Madam Hooch. "Three... Two... One..."

With a roar from the crowd to speed them upward, the fourteen players rose toward the leaden sky. Aileen flew higher than any of them, looking around for the Snitch. This was the first game she was playing with glasses, and she hadn't realizing how much she realized on her instincts before. Not even the training showed her how much easier it was to see the field during play with her glasses. However, just because she could now see better than she ever could before, didn't mean she was going to stop using her instincts since it was something that she could transfer into her demi-god life.

"All right there, Scarhead?" yelled Malfoy, shooting underneath her as though to show off the speed of his broom.

Aileen chosenot toreplyto Malfoy's taunting since she was confident in her skills as a seeker and, more importantly, as a flyer. Even though Malfoy's broom was a little faster than hers, Aileen was confident that she had more control and could actually use the speed on her broom to the best of its abilities. Moments after Malfoy moved to fly on the other side of the pitch, Aileen was forced to bank left sharply as a Bludger came pelting towards her.

"Close one, Aileen!" said George, streaking past her with his club in his hand, ready to knock the Bludger back toward a Slytherin.

Aileen saw George give the Bludger a powerful whack in the direction of Adrian Pucey, but the Bludger changed direction in midair and shot straight for Aileen again. Aileen dropped quickly to avoid it, and George managed to hit it hard toward Malfoy. Once again, the Bludger swerved like a boomerang and shot at Aileen's head. Aileen put on a burst of speed and zoomed toward the other end of the pitch. She could hear the Bludger whistling along behind her. Fred was waiting for the Bludger at the other end. Aileen ducked as Fred swung at the Bludger with all his might; the Bludger was knocked off course.

"Gotcha!" Fred yelled happily, but he was wrong; as though it was magnetically attracted to Aileen, the Bludger pelted after her once more and Aileen was forced to fly off at full speed.

It had started to rain; Aileen felt heavy drops fall onto her face, splattering onto her glasses.

Fred and George were now flying so close to her on either side that Aileen could see nothing at all except their flailing arms and had no chance to look for the Snitch, let alone catch it.

"Someone's – tampered – with – this – Bludger -" Fred grunted, swinging his bat with all his might at it as it launched a new attack on Aileen.

"I want to know why no one has noticed." Aileen said sharply, trying to fly in such a way that I made it easier for the twins to put power behind their swings and not risk hurting her, and yet not give the Bludger an opening. This was as bad as her first match the year before, when her broom was being cursed. It had taken a while for anyone to notice then, except this time she didn't seem to have Professor Snape helping to protect her. Instead, she had the twins doing their best to intercept the Bludger.

"We need time out," said George, trying to signal to Wood.

Wood had obviously got the message. Madam Hooch's whistle rang out and Aileen, Fred, and George dived for the ground, still trying to avoid the mad Bludger.

"What's going on?" said Wood as the Gryffindor team huddled together, while Slytherins in the crowd jeered. "We're being flattened. Fred, George, where were you when that Bludger stopped Angelina scoring?"

"We were twenty feet above her, stopping the other Bludger from murdering Aileen, Oliver," said George angrily. "Someone's fixed it - it won't leave Aileen alone. It hasn't gone for anyone else all game. The Slytherins must have done something to it."

"But the Bludgers have been locked in Madam Hooch's office since our last practice, and there was nothing wrong with them then..." said Wood, anxiously.

Madam Hooch was walking toward them. Over her shoulder, Aileen could see the Slytherin team jeering and pointing in her direction.

"I have an idea." Aileen sighed, she knew that Wood would not give up the game. "Fred, George, leave the Bludger to me. I am faster than it and I can take corners quicker. With you two up with me the others are being slaughter."

"Don't be thick," said Fred. "It'll take your head off."

Wood was looking from Aileen to the Weasleys.

"Oliver, this is insane," said Alicia angrily. "You can't let Aileen deal with that thing on her own. Let's ask for an inquiry..."

"If we stop now, we'll have to forfeit the match!" said Oliver worriedly.

Madam Hooch had joined them. "Ready to resume play?" she asked Wood.

Wood looked at the calm but resolute look onAileen's face. "All right," he said. "Fred, George, you heard Aileen - leave her alone and let her deal with the Bludger on her own."

Fred and George were still frowning worriedly at her as the rest of the team got on their brooms, preparing to take off. On an impulse Aileen leaned forward and kissed the both of them on the cheek.

"I'll be fine." Aileen promised them, touched that they cared about her.

The rain was falling more heavily now. On Madam Hooch's whistle, Aileen kicked hard into the air and heard the telltale whoosh of the Bludger behind her. Higher and higher Aileen climbed; she looped and swooped, spiralled, zigzagged, and rolled. Slightly dizzy, she nevertheless kept her eyes wide open, rain was speckling her glasses and ran up her nostrils as she hung upside down, avoiding another fierce dive from the Bludger.

Using the Bludger to her advantage Aileen started interrupting play. She would dive just in front of the Slytherin players or fly towards them and pull away at the last second causing them to have to dodge the Bludger that was on her tail. When she wasn't making the Slytherin's life hell she was flying in complicated and quick patterns around the stadium, pulling of tricks that even professionals struggled with. And while doing all that she kept an eye out for the snitch.

"Training for the ballet, Potter?" yelled Malfoy as Aileen was forced to do a barrel roll mid-loop to dodge the Bludger, and she fled, the Bludger trailing a few feet behind her; and then, glaring back at Malfoy in hatred, she saw it - the Golden Snitch.

It was hovering inches above Malfoy's left ear - and Malfoy, busy laughing at Aileen, hadn't seen it. Aileen span quickly, her broom turning in a complicated way around her as she planted her feet on the brush in order to complete the turn without any further moment in the direction she didn't want to go. Then she flew towards Malfoy, ducking under the Bludger. The Bludger seemed to realized that the game was about to come to an end because suddenly she didn't have one Bludger to dodge, but two.

One came from behind and the other the side. Aileen mentally cursed and dodged the one from behind her since it was aimed at her head but the one coming from the side hit her full on. She felt the bones in her arm shatter and at least two ribs. Aileen went off track for a few seconds before she swerved and continued her dive straight down to Malfoy. Her broken arm gripping the broom tightly.

Through a haze of rain and pain she dived for the shimmering, sneering face below her and saw its eyes widen with fear: Malfoy thought Aileen was attacking him.

"What the -" he gasped, careening out of Aileen's way.

Aileen took her good hand off her broom and made a wild snatch; she felt her fingers close on the cold Snitch but was now only gripping the broom with her legs and a broken arm. There was a yell from the crowd as she headed straight for the ground. Aileen leaned back on the broom and with one hand stilled gripped around the handle in pain it forced her broom to level out barely an inch of the ground.

Aileenslipped of her broom and to her knees, breathing shallowly as she focused on not passing out. She had none of her medical equipment on her because her Quidditch robes didn't have pockets. She was contemplating sowing them in due to the way both her first season games went to hell in a hay basket.

Before she knew what was happening Aileen was suddenly swamped by what left like the entire Gryffindor house, but none of them dared touch her, not sure what her injuries where. Then she heard a voice in the crowd, asking them to let him threw.

Gritting her teeth, Aileen slowly pulled herself to her feet and pointed her wand directly in Lockhart's face. The older man paled drastically. Out of the corner of her eye Aileen saw Professor Snape making his way through the crowd with a scrawl fixed on his face.

"Not to worry, Aileen. I'm just here to fix your arm."said Lockhart soothingly. "It's a simple charm I've used countless times -"

"You will do no such thing." Aileen hissed at him, her eyes narrowed. "You are not a professional healer and I would rather spend the rest of my life with a broken arm then allow you to touch me. Now back off." Aileen ordered him.

"Come now, Aileen, it will only take a few seconds." Lockhart tried to say.

But Aileen wasn't focused on him anymore. She heard a whistle of air behind her. Immediately she span on the spot:

"Confringo" she shouted. The red spell left her wand and impacted against the Bludger turning it to dust above the shocked crowd.

"What are you doing Lockhart?" Professor Snape's voice drooled. "Surely you should be escorting Miss Potter to the Hospital Wing, where a professional can heal her rather then stood out here in the rain."

"Would you mind escorting me up to the Hospital Wing Professor, since you have a background in healing? And you're skilled enough in defence to stop the other Bludger from trying to kill me." Aileen took a chance – as far as she was aware professor Snape was the only adult to directly try and save her life from immediately present danger.

Aileen walked to professor Snape's side and without saying a word Professor Snape place a hand on her shoulder, they both walked through the crowd. It was only once she was in the corridors, out of sight of the student's that she collapsed. Professor Snape reacted quickly and caught her.

"My ribs." Aileen gasped out before her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she passed out.

When Aileen came too she was in the hospital wing, with Madam Pomfrey hovering round her bed, casting diagnostic spells. The pain had been reduced to a dull ach and Aileen could feel her arm was in a sling – which told her the break was very bad since Madam Pomfrey could fix a simple fracture in seconds. Aileen wasn't sure what she had done with her ribs, breathing was easier but it still caused a spike of pain and she felt bandages wrapped around her chest.

"Ah, good you're awake." Madam Pomfrey said, she was holding a large bottle of Skele-Gro.

"That bad?" Aileen asked.

"I have set most of the bones in your arm, however some of them had been too badly damaged and I was forced to vanish them. Your ribs I have healed but they will be tender for the next three days or so. You're in for a rough night," she said, pouring out a steaming beaker full and handing it to her. "Re-growing bones is a nasty business."

So was taking the Skele-Gro. It burned Aileen's mouth and throat as it went down. Still tut-tutting about dangerous sports and inept teachers, Madam Pomfrey retreated, leaving Ron and Hermione to step forward from where they were hovering in the background.

"Could have tasted worse." Aileen grimaced, taking the cup of water that Hermione offered her.

"We won, though," said Ron, a grin breaking across his face. "That was some catch you made. Malfoy's face... He looked ready to kill!"

"I want to know how he fixed that Bludger," said Hermione darkly.

"We can add that to the list of questions we'll ask him when we've taken the Polyjuice Potion," Aileen said, sinking back onto her pillows as what was left of the adrenaline in her system faded. "I hope it tastes better than this stuff..."

"If it's got bits of Slytherins in it? You've got to be joking," said Ron.

The door of the hospital wing burst open at that moment. Filthy and soaking wet, the rest of the Gryffindor team had arrived to see Aileen.

"Unbelievable flying, Aileen," said George. "I've just seen Marcus Flint yelling at Malfoy. Something about having the Snitch on top of his head and not noticing. Malfoy didn't seem too happy."

They had brought cakes, sweets, and bottles of pumpkin juice; they gathered around Aileen's bed and were just getting started on what promised to be a good party when Madam Pomfrey came storming over, shouting:

"This girl needs rest, she's got eleven bones to regrow! Out! OUT!"

And Aileen was left alone, with nothing to distract her from the stabbing pains in her arm. Hours and hours later, Aileen woke quite suddenly in the pitch blackness. With a thrill of horror, she realised that someone was sponging her forehead in the dark.

"Get off me!" shehissed, and then, "Dobby!"

The house-elf's goggling tennis ball eyes were peering at Aileen through the darkness. A single tear was running down his long, pointed nose.

"Aileen Potter came back to school," he whispered miserably. "Dobby warned and warned Aileen Potter. Ah miss, why didn't you heed Dobby? Why didn't Aileen Potter go back home when she missed the train?"

Aileen heaved herself up on her pillows. "It was you! You stopped the barrier from letting us through!" Aileen accused, with slightly narrowed eyes as what Dobby was saying penetrated her sleep and pain filled mind.

"Indeed yes, miss," said Dobby, nodding his head vigorously, ears flapping. "Dobby hid and watched for Aileen Potter and sealed the gateway and Dobby had to iron his hands afterward," he showed Aileen ten long, bandaged fingers, "but Dobby didn't care, miss, for he thought Aileen Potter was safe, and never did Dobby dream that Aileen Potter would get to school another way!"

He was rocking backward and forward, shaking his ugly head. "Dobby was 'so shocked when he heard Aileen Potter was back at Hogwarts, he let his master's dinner burn! Such a flogging Dobby never had, sir..."

He blew his nose on a corner of the filthy pillowcase he wore, looking so pathetic that Aileen felt her anger ebb away in spite of herself.

"I suppose that you were also the one to enchant the Bludger?" Aileen asked, sinking back into the pillows. "Are you aware that you could have killed me?"

"Not kill you, miss, never kill you!" said Dobby, shocked. "Dobby wants to save Aileen Potter's life! Better sent home, grievously injured, than remain here miss! Dobby only wanted Aileen Potter hurt enough to be sent home!"

"Dobby if I was grievously injured I would be kept in the hospital wing and if Madam Pomfrey couldn't heal me I would be sent to the hospital until such a time as I am well again. Then I would come back to Hogwarts." Aileen explained softly. "I know you're worried about my safety Dobby, but I am not going anywhere."

"Ah, if Aileen Potter only knew!" Dobby groaned, more tears dripping onto his ragged pillowcase. "If she knew what she means to us, to the lowly, the enslaved, we dregs of the magical world! Dobby remembers how it was when He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was at the height of his powers, miss! We house-elves were treated like vermin, miss! Of course, Dobby is still treated like that, miss," he admitted. Aileen grabbed a tissue from her bedside table and gently dried Dobby's face of tears.

"But mostly, miss, life has improved for my kind since you triumphed over He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Aileen Potter survived, and the Dark Lord's power was broken, and it was anew dawn, miss, and Aileen Potter shone like a beacon of hope for those of us who thought the Dark days would never end... And now, at Hogwarts, terrible things are to happen, are perhaps happening already, and Dobby cannot let Aileen Potter stay here now that history is to repeat itself, now that the Chamber of Secrets is open once more-"

Dobby froze, horror-struck, then made to grab Aileen's water jug from her bedside table but Aileen caught the house-elf with her good arm and pulled him to her side, ignoring the pain that shot threw her ribs as she jarred them.

"I will not let you punish yourself in my presence Dobby." Aileen informed the house elf who was shaking and muttering 'Bad Dobby' to himself while wringing his hands.

"Dark deeds are planned in this place, but Aileen Potter must not be here when they happen-go home, Aileen Potter, go home. Aileen Potter must not meddle in this, miss, 'tis too dangerous-"

"Dobby my life is full of danger, being a Hogwarts is probably the safest I've ever been." Aileen informed the house elf. "I know you can't tell me who opened it last time or who is opening it now, but can you tell me when the chamber was last opened?" Aileen asked softly.

"Fifty years ago."squealed the elfafter a moment before he was back to pleading. "Go home, Aileen Potter, go home!"

"I'm not going anywhere!" said Aileen fiercely. "One of my best friends is Muggle-born; she'll be first inline if the Chamber really has been opened -"

"Aileen Potter risks her own life for her friends!" moaned Dobby in a kind of miserable ecstasy. "So noble! So valiant! But she must save herself, she must, Aileen Potter must not -"

Dobby suddenly froze, his bat ears quivering. Aileen heard it, too. There were footsteps coming down the passageway outside.

"Dobby must go!" breathed the elf, terrified.

There was a loud crack, and Aileen was suddenly holding thin air to her side. Aileen fixed her eyes on the dark doorway to the hospital wing as the footsteps drew nearer. Next moment, Dumbledore was backing into the hospital wing, wearing a long woolly dressing gown and a nightcap. He was carrying one end of what looked like a statue. Professor McGonagall appeared a second later, carrying its feet. Together, they heaved it onto a bed.

"Get Madam Pomfrey," whispered Dumbledore, and Professor McGonagall hurried past the end of Aileen's bed out of sight. She heard urgent voices from the direction of Madam Pomfrey's office, and then Professor McGonagall swept back into view, closely followed by Madam Pomfrey, who was pulling a cardigan on over her nightdress. He heard a sharp intake of breath.

"What happened?" Madam Pomfrey whispered to Dumbledore, bending over the statue on the bed.

"Another attack," said Dumbledore. "Minerva found him on the stairs."

"There was a bunch of grapes next to him," said Professor McGonagall. "We think he was trying to sneak up here to visit Potter."

Aileen's stomach gave a horrible lurch. Slowly and carefully, Aileen swung her feet of the bed and made her way towards the professors. A ray of moonlight lay across its staring face. It was Colin Creevey. His eyes were wide and his hands were stuck up in front of him, holding his camera.

"Colin," Aileen whispered horrified as she moved to the young boys side, reaching her good hand out to touch the boy's head.

"Miss Potter, what are you doing out of bed?" Madam Pomfrey demanded.

Aileen didn't even look at her. "He's been petrified, like Mrs Norris."

"Yes," said Professor McGonagall through pursed lips when she realized that Aileen wasn't going nowhere. "But I shudder to think… If the headmaster hadn't been on the way downstairs for hot chocolate - who knows what might have -"

The four of them stared down at Colin. Then Dumbledore leaned forward and wrenched the camera out of Colin's rigid grip.

"You don't think he managed to get a picture of his attacker?" said Professor McGonagall eagerly. Dumbledore didn't answer. He opened the back of the camera.

"Good gracious!" said Madam Pomfrey. A jet of steam had hissed out of the camera. Aileen caught the acrid smell of burnt plastic. "Melted," said Madam Pomfrey wonderingly. "All melted..."

"What does this mean, Albus?" Professor McGonagall asked urgently.

"It means," said Dumbledore, "that the Chamber of Secrets is indeed open again." Madam Pomfrey clapped a hand to her mouth.

"You were at school the last time it open," Aileen looked up at the headmaster, her emerald eyes swimming with a hint of blue-y-green in her anger and sadness. "Did you figure out what the beast, the thing attacking the students, was?"

"Sadly no." Dumbledore sighed. "And that is not the question; the question is how…"

The news that Colin Creevey had been attacked and was now lying, as though dead, in the hospital wing had spread through the entire school by Monday morning despite the teachers best attempts at keeping the knowledge under-wraps. The air was suddenly thick with rumour and suspicion. The first years were now moving around the castle in tight-knit groups, as though scared they would be attacked if they ventured forth alone.

Ginny, who sat next to Colin Creevey in Charms, was distraught. Aileen tried to get the younger girl to open up to her and when she took her out to train, she turned it into a game to get the girl to smile and laugh. She also refused to let her join any of the team practice because she was in no state to cope with Wood's drill Sargent behavior. When Aileen had informed Wood of this he had been furious but Aileen had shouted him down (in front of the whole team and the Gryffindor students above fourth year) informing him in no uncertain terms that Ginny's health was more important to her than any stupid cup and if he had a problem with that he could find a new seeker. The twins had added to the threat by saying Oliver would also be looking for new beaters while Percy had silently glared the Quidditch obsessed boy into submission while publicly showing support for the twins which he didn't do very often.

Despite the fact that she had been under Madam Pomfrey's care in the hospital wing, and therefore unable to even get out of bed without immediately being set upon, the majority of the school population still seemed to be under the impression that Aileen was the heir. There was a quiet few who used their common sense and let her know they didn't think it was her, but they didn't want attention and scorn drawn to them so they didn't say anything in her defense. Aileen didn't mind that they were being silent since they told her what they thought and in her opinion they were too young to face the school wide bullying with confidence.

Meanwhile, hidden from the teachers, a roaring trade in talismans, amulets, and other protective devices was sweeping the school. Neville bought a large, evil-smelling green onion, a pointed purple crystal, and a rotting newt tail before the other Gryffindor boys pointed out that he was in no danger; he was a pureblood, and therefore unlikely to be attacked.

"They went for Filch first," Neville said, his round face fearful. "And everyone knows I'm almost a Squib."

Aileen had pulled the boy into a hug and dragged him away from the other students where she then proceed to methodically go through all the facts pointing to why Neville was not a squib. It was something she had been trying to persuade him off since first year, but with others calling him a squib and the strict, unhelpful behaviour of his gran it was very hard work. It was made even worse because Neville was not using his own wand and she couldn't get him to buy one that suited him since his grandmother wanted him to use his father's wand – in his memory.

A lot of the first years were afraid, going around in groups, having nightmares and, more often than not, crying. Aileen did what she could to comfort them, but a lot of the student body were suffering from the delusional believe that she was the heir of Slytherin and so were avoiding her. Because of this she generally went to the prefect/head boy/head girl, when she came across one of the upset first years and they wouldn't accept her help.

Mid-December, as was her routine, McGonagall brought around the list of those who would be staying for the Christmas Holidays in Gryffindor. Aileen, as usual signed her name, joined by Ron and Hermione who had convinced their parents to let them stay. Aileen had overheard Malfoy saying that he would be staying for the Christmas Holidays because his parents were going to some big convention in France. Hermione thought that the holidays would be the best time to use the potion.

However, the only way that the potion would be finished on time was if they were able to get their hands on Bicorn horn and Boomslang skin. The items were very expensive and restricted owl order items, you would have to go into an apothecary to buy them (as Aileen had been informed when she sent a letter to the apothecary asking). Which mean that the only way they would be able to get the ingredients is if they got them from Snape's privet stores; he only let the best of his NEWT classes into these stores if they could prove themselves capable brewers and they were under his constant supervision.

Aileen privately felt she'd rather face Slytherin's legendary monster than steal from Snape. However, she didn't voice her doubts to her friends in what they were planning. In the same way she didn't voice her doubts about Malfoy. The year before she had been ignored in her defense of Snape, and now she doubted her voicing a defense of Malfoy would go over well especially when Hermione had her stubborn head on. She was set in her ways and refused to listen to anything Aileen had to say on the matter and so she had given up.

"What we need," said Hermione briskly as Thursday afternoon's double Potions lesson loomed nearer, "is a diversion. Then one of us can sneak into Snape's office and take what we need." Aileen and Ron looked at her nervously. "I think I'd better do the actual stealing," Hermione continued in a matter-of-fact tone. "You two will be expelled if you get into any trouble, and I've got a clean record. So all you need to do is cause enough mayhem to keep Snape busy for five minutes or so. "

Aileen smiledgrimly. Deliberately causing mayhem in Snape's Potions class was about as safe as poking a sleeping dragon in the eye. They were probably more likely to be expelled for disrupting Snape's class then actually getting caught stealing from the man. Especially since, although he hid it well, Snape took the safety of his students very seriously. Deliberately distracting the class could cause an explosion from a student who wasn't paying attention to their cauldron, which could result in serious injuries.

The potion lesson began as usual. Twenty cauldrons stood steaming between the wooden desks, on which stood brass scales and jars of ingredients. Snape prowled through the fumes, making waspish remarks about the Gryffindors' work while the Slytherins sniggered appreciatively.

Draco Malfoy, who was Snape's favourite student, kept flicking puffer-fish eyes at Ron and Aileen. The only reason Aileen's and Ron's cauldrons hadn't blown up yet was because Aileen would catch the pufferfish eye (she was between Malfoy and Ron). She currently had a stack of about twelve pufferfish eyes on her desk. Snape had seen the flying pufferfish parts, but hadn't made a comment since it had yet to land in her cauldron. Aileen's potion was slightly too dark since her focus was so split but she really didn't care. Ron's potion was doing even worse than hers since his attention was focused on waiting for Hermione's signal, although his potions skills were poor to average at best.

When Snape turned and walked off to bully Neville, Hermione caught Aileen's eye and nodded. Aileen ducked swiftly down behind her cauldron, pulled one of Fred's Filibuster fireworks out of her pocket, and gave it a quick prod with her wand. The firework began to fizz and sputter. Knowing she had only seconds, Aileen straightened up, took aim, and lobbed it into the air; it landed right on target in Goyle's cauldron (which she had deduced to be at a stage where it wouldn't harm nobody else when it exploded).

Goyle's potion exploded, showering the whole class. People shrieked as splashes of the Swelling Solution hit them. Malfoy got a face-full and his nose began to swell like a balloon; Goyle blundered around, his hands over his eyes, which had expanded to the size of a dinner plate - Snape was trying to restore calm and find out what had happened. Through the confusion, Aileen saw Hermione slip quietly into Snape's office.

"Silence! SILENCE!" Snape roared. "Anyone who has been splashed, come here for a Deflating Draft - when I find out who did this -"

Aileen and the rest of the Gryffindors who had been too far from Goyle to be hit, watched as a good proportion of the Slytherins walked up to Snape's desk with various parts of their bodies increasing in size. As Snape started deflating half the class, Aileen spotted Hermione sneaking back into the classroom, the needed ingredients hidden under her robes.

When everyone had taken a swig of antidote and the various swellings had subsided, Snape swept over to Goyle's cauldron and scooped out the twisted black remains of the firework. There was a sudden hush.

"If I ever find out who threw this," Snape whispered, "I shall make sure that person is expelled."

Aileen simply frowned in worry as she looked at the firework in the professor's hand. She made it look like she was trying to identify who it might belong to. She was not going to look Snape in the eye because he seemed very good at reading her emotions when he was doing so despite the fact that she had perfected her mask long before arriving at Hogwarts.

When they got to Myrtle's bathroom Hermione threw the new ingredients into the cauldron and began to stir feverishly.

It was a week after they began the final process of brewing the polyjuice (which sounded better then thinking about how it had been a week since Aileen had helped Hermione steal from Snape) when the trio were walking across the entrance hall. Instead of continuing on to the common room, they stopped as they noticed a small group of people gathered around a notice board. This was an unusual occurrence because the notices were normally put in the common room, but if there was one in the entrance hall it meant it was really important and applied to everyone on the school and not just a specific house or year. They probably had copies in the common room, to make sure everyone read the notice.

Seamus and Dean beckoned them over, looking excited. Although Aileen spent more time speaking with Neville then she did the other two Gryffindor boys of their year, they still had a mostly friendly acquaintance.

"They're starting a Duelling Club!" said Seamus. "First meeting tonight! I wouldn't mind duelling lessons; they might come in handy one of these days..."

"What, you reckon Slytherin's monster can duel?" said Ron, but he, too, read the sign with interest. "Could be useful," he said to Aileen and Hermione as they went into dinner. "Shall we go?"

Hermione agreed to go since it was a chance of learning something knew while Aileen agreed to go sine she wanted to see how well her reflexes carried over to help her in a magical dual as opposed to a fight with monsters. It also gave her a chance to practice more of her defensive and offensive spells in a controlled, practical, environment. So it was, with their different reasons, the group joined the Seamus, Neville and Dead as they headed to the great hall that night. The girls from their year had decided they didn't want to go, but depending on what Hermione and Aileen said, they said they would consider going the next session.

The long dining tables had vanished and a golden stage had appeared along one wall, lit by thousands of candles floating overhead. The ceiling was velvety black once more and most of the school seemed to be packed beneath it, all carrying their wands and looking excited.

"I wonder who'll be teaching us?" said Hermione as they edged into the chattering crowd. "Someone told me Flitwick was a duelling champion when he was young - maybe it'll be him."

"Knowing our luck it will be Lockhart." Aileen said and then, as if to just prove her point, Gilderoy Lockhart strutted onto the stage, resplendent in robes of deep plum and accompanied by none other than Snape, wearing his usual black. Lockhart waved an arm for silence and called:

"Gather round, gather round! Can everyone see me? Can you all hear me? Excellent! Now, Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this little duelling club, to train you all in case you ever need to defend yourselves as I myself have done on countless occasions - for full details, see my published works. Let me introduce my assistant, Professor Snape," said Lockhart, flashing a wide smile. "He tells me he knows a tiny little bit about duelling himself and has sportingly agreed to help me with a short demonstration before we begin. Now, I don't want any of you youngsters to worry - you'll still have your Potions master when I'm through with him, never fear!"

"Wouldn't it be good if they finished each other off?" Ron muttered in Aileen's ear.

Snape's upper lip was curling. Aileen wondered why Lockhart was still smiling; if Snape had been looking at her like that she'd have been running as fast as she could in the opposite direction (and she had actually _faced_ countless monsters). Lockhart and Snape turned to face each other and bowed; at least, Lockhart did, with much twirling of his hands, whereas Snape jerked his head irritably. Then they raised their wands like swords in front of them.

"As you see, we are holding our wands in the accepted combative position," Lockhart told the silent crowd. "On the count of three, we will cast our first spells. Neither of us will be aiming to kill, of course."

"I wouldn't bet on that," Aileen murmured, watching Snape baring his teeth even though his stance suggested he wasn't taken the fool seriously.

"One – two – three -"

Both of them swung their wands above their heads and pointed them at their opponent; Snape cried: "Expelliarmus!"

There was a dazzling flash of scarlet light and Lockhart was blasted off his feet: He flew backward off the stage, smashed into the wall, and slid down it to sprawl on the floor. Malfoy and some of the other Slytherins cheered.

Hermione was dancing on tiptoes. "Do you think he's all right?" she squealed through her fingers.

"Who cares?" said Aileen and Ron together, and Aileen had a feeling the only reason Ron wasn't clapping or cheering was because it was Snape who blasted Lockhart across the room. Lockhart was getting unsteadily to his feet. His hat had fallen off and his wavy hair was standing on end.

"Well, there you have it!" he said, tottering back onto the platform. "That was a Disarming Charm - as you see, I've lost my wand - ah, thank you, Miss Smith - yes, an excellent idea to show them that, Professor Snape, but if you don't mind my saying so, it was very obvious what you were about to do. If I had wanted to stop you it would have been only too easy - however, I felt it would be instructive to let them see... "

Snape was looking murderous. Possibly Lockhart had noticed, because he said, "Enough demonstrating! I'm going to come amongst you now and put you all into pairs. Professor Snape, if you'd like to help me -"

They moved through the crowd, matching up partners. Lockhart teamed Neville with Justin Finch-Fletchley, but Snape reached Aileen, Hermione and Ron first.

"Time to split up the dream team, I think," he sneered. "Weasley, you can partner Finnigan. Potter, Mr. Malfoy, come over here. Let's see what you make of the famous Potter. And you, Miss Granger - you can partner Miss Bulstrode."

Malfoy strutted over, smirking. Behind him walked a Slytherin girl who reminded Aileen of a picture she'd seen in Holidays with Hags, or perhaps of the empousa without any of the seductive charm that they use to lure in (and kill) men. She was very square and stocky, the shapeless for of the school robes and the awkwardness of youth not helping her any. Hermione gave her a weak smile that she did not return.

"Face your partners!" called Lockhart, back on the platform. "And bow!"

Aileen and Malfoy barely inclined their heads, not taking their eyes off each other. Malfoy was known for dirty handed tricks, and she did not trust the other boy as far she could throw him. But she also didn't bow properly since it was a sign of disrespect to the person they are dueling – an insult in the old tradition because it insinuated that the other person was below you in skill and stature. The only reason Snape hadn't bowed properly was because he mostly likely considered Lockhart a bug to be squished and he would take it as a sign of respect instead of an insult.

"Wands at the ready!" shouted Lockhart. "When I count to three, cast your charms to disarm your opponents - only to disarm them - we don't want any accidents - one... Two... Three... "

But Malfoy had already started on "two": Aileen dodged the spelled and irritably cast her own.

"Expelliarmus"

Malfoy's wand went flying and Aileen caught it not remotely impressed. Malfoy was of an old pureblood family which meant he had been taught the basics of magic before coming to Hogwarts, and once he started Hogwarts he would have started having proper magic lessons during the summer and that includes duelling. He had two months to learn the basics of duelling and yet he – not only cheated – but was unable to shield or dodge a simple spell.

"I said disarm only!" Lockhart shouted in alarm over the heads of the battling crowd."Stop! Stop!" screamed Lockhart, but Snape took charge.

"Finite Incantatem!" he shouted, loudly; Aileen was impressed that he was able to cast a spell powerful enough to council the possible hundreds of spells that was flying around the room and the effects.

A haze of greenish smoke was hovering over the scene. Both Neville and Justin were lying on the floor, panting; Ron was holding up an ashen-faced Seamus, apologising for whatever his broken wand had done; but Hermione and Millicent were still moving; Millicent had Hermione in a headlock and Hermione was whimpering in pain; both their wands lay forgotten on the floor. Aileen leapt forward in order to help her grabbed Millicent's arm, wrenching it from Hermione and pulling it behind her. With her arm locked in place it was easy for Aileen to maneuver the larger girl away from her friend.

"Dear, dear," said Lockhart, skittering through the crowd, looking at the aftermath of the duels. "Up you go, Macmillan... Careful there, Miss Fawcett... Pinch it hard, it'll stop bleeding in a second, Boot... I think I'd better teach you how to block unfriendly spells," said Lockhart, standing flustered in the midst of the hall.

He glanced at Snape, whose black eyes glinted, and looked quickly away. "Let's have a volunteer pair – Longbottom and Finch-Fletchley, how about you-"

"A bad idea, Lockhart," said Snape, gliding over like a large and malevolent bat. "Longbottom causes devastation with the simplest spells. We'll be sending what's left of Finch-Fletchley up to the hospital wing in a matchbox."

Neville's round, pink face went pinker.

"How about Malfoy and Potter?" said Snape, his face straight and giving nothing away.

"Excellent idea!" said Lockhart, gesturing Aileen and Malfoy into the middle of the hall as the crowd backed away to give them room. Aileen tossed Malfoy's wand back to him causing a few Gryffindor's to laugh.

"Now, Aileen," said Lockhart. "When Draco points his wand at you, you do this." He raised his own wand, attempted a complicated sort of wiggling action, and dropped it. Snape smirked as Lockhart quickly picked it up, saying, "Whoops - my wand is a little overexcited -"

Snape moved closer to Malfoy, bent down, and whispered something in his ear and demonstrated a wand movement that appeared to be a second level shield smirked,and stepped away from the professor.

"Scared?" muttered Malfoy, so that Lockhart couldn't hear him.

Aileen didn't answer to his petty baiting.

Lockhart cuffed Aileen merrily on the shoulder. "Just do what I did, Aileen!"

"What, drop my wand?" Aileen said sarcastically as she took her place.

But Lockhart wasn't listening. "Three – two – one - go!" he shouted.

Malfoy raised his wand quickly (it seemed he had the common sense to not cast before the count while everyone was watching) and bellowed, "Serpensortia!"

The end of his wand exploded.

Aileen didn't wait to see the long black snakeland on the ground, "Expelliarmus" she said once again sending Malfoy's wand flying over to her. The smirk was whipped of his face. Aileen then turned her attention to the snake that had fallen heavily onto the floor between them, and raised itself, ready to strike. There were screams as the crowd backed swiftly away, clearing the floor.

"All of you move back, slowly." Aileen order the front row of students. They did as she ordered and started shuffling backwards. Aileen's voice had drawn the attention of the snake to her.

"Don't move, Potter," said Snape lazily, but even while she stood eye to eye with an angry snake she could hear the undertone of annoyance in the man's voice – he obviously did not want his student to have summed the snake. "I'll get rid of it... "

"Allow me!" shouted Lockhart. He brandished his wand at the snake and there was a loud bang; the snake, instead of vanishing, flew ten feet into the air and fell back to the floor with a loud smack.

Enraged, hissing furiously, it slithered straight toward Justin Finch-Fletchley and raised itself again, fangs exposed, poised to strike. Acting on instinct Aileen jump off the stage and landed in a crouch in front of Justin. Then she stood locking eyes with the snake to assert her dominance over it.

" _Clam yourself, beautiful_ ," Aileen said, her voice taking on a hissing quality like it always does when she speaks with a snake. The snake folded in on itself from its poised position and closed its mouth. " _I will take you from here, return you from where you came._ " Aileen continued, holding her arm out.

" _I did not like it there, to many cages. Means two-leggers."_ The snake hissed angrily.

" _Then I shall find you a new home_ ," Aileen promised.

" _There will be rats_?" the snake hissed, swaying slightly. " _And no two legged creatures to take my venom_."

" _Yes_ ," Aileen hissed. The snake slivered up her arm and wrapped himself around her chest. Aileen turned her attention to Snape, who, like the rest of the hall, was staring at her in shock. "I need to see the headmaster about finding a home for this snake; I will not allow you to banish it and return it to where it comes from, he did not like it there, sir." And with that said Aileen turned and walk from the hall, the students parting to let her through.

After her discussion with the headmaster about finding a safe home for the snake, Aileen left the headmaster's office just as Snape led a red faced Malfoy up the stairs. She went to the common room where she found Ron, Hermione and Neville waiting for her. It appeared as though everyone else had gone to bed.

"You're a Parselmouth. Why didn't you tell us?" Ron demanded while Aileen pulled herself up onto her windowsill.

"Parselmouth?" Aileen asked confused. She had never heard that title before.

"You can talk to snakes!" Ron exclaimed.

"I know," said Aileen. "I've been talking to snakes most my life. Wasn't till I accidentally set a boa-constrictor on my cousin Dudley while we were at the Zoo that I realized I was talking a different language. It was telling me it had never seen Brazil and I sort of set it free without meaning to but that was before I knew I was a witch." Aileen shrugged carelessly.

"A boa constrictor told you it had never seen Brazil?" Ron repeated faintly.

"Yeah, snakes are very intelligent creatures. Some of the more common breads like the grass snakes are not as intelligent as something like the boa constrictor but they have about the same understanding as a child would."

"Aileen,this is bad."Ron finally said once he had gotten his mouth to work again.

Both Ron and Hermione were looking as though someone had died. Neville wasn't as bad but he still looked extremely concerned.

"Would you three please explain why you look like your about to attend my funeral?" Aileen asked.

"Being able to talk to snakes was what Salazar Slytherin was famous for. That's why the symbol of Slytherin House is a serpent." said Hermione, speaking at last in a hushed voice,

"Exactly," said Ron. "And now the whole school's going to think you're his great-great-great-great-granddaughter or something-"

"They already think I am the heir." Aileen informed them bluntly with a careless shrug. "Being able to speak to snakes changes nothing. The opinion of the sheep of this school does not matter to me – they can all go to Hades, if they can't pull their collective heads out of their asses and look at the facts in front of them."

The next morning the snow that had begun in the night had turned into a blizzard so thick that the last Herbology lesson of the term was canceled: Professor Sprout wanted to fit socks and scarves on the Mandrakes, a tricky operation she would entrust to no one else but her most prized students (a couple of seventh years and Neville), now that it was so important for the Mandrakes to grow quickly and revive Mrs. Norris and Colin Creevey.

Aileen was in the library looking though books in the creature section. She was trying to find books on snakes because she had realized that the creature must be a snake – that is after all what Salazar was famous for. She thought it might be a Basilisk but she didn't understand why no one was dead if it was. From what she knew there were two different types of Basilisk.

The first was, in some aspects the most deadly. They are small, fast, and have spikes around their heads that looks like a crown. Their scales are coated in a poison like their teeth and can dissolve any substance like acid and they can breathe fire. This basilisk was more closely related to their drakon kin and are also called mikró stemma. The mikró stemma had a fatal weakness that many demi-gods have exploited – weasels can kill them with their presence – if they did not wish to engage them in combat.

The second basilisk is also known as the King of Serpents. They can grow to be up to 80 feet long (females being larger than males) and live thousands of years. They can also go a long period of time without food by going into a type of hibernation. They have yellow eyes that will kill immediately upon gaining eye contact. Their poison kills in under two minutes and the only known cure is the freely given tears of a phoenix. The thing that makes this basilisk so hard to kill is the inability to penetrate its skin; not even celestial bronze or imperial gold could cut though the basilisk scales. It is for this reason that this basilisk is known as the true basilisk.

Aileen prayed that she was wrong in her belief of what the creature was because she doubted that anyone could take on the King of Serpents and live. Aileen knew she might had a chance against the mikró stemma but no one, in the entirety of their history, had been able to kill a Basilisk. Not Hercules, or Perseus, or Jason or Theseus. Each of these hero's faced the Basilisk and where forced to flee, or die.

Aileen was about to leave the library, book in hand, when a group of the Hufflepuffs, who should have been in Herbology, sitting at the back of the library, caught her attention. They didn't seem to be working. Between the long lines of high bookshelves, Aileen could see that their heads were close together and they were having what looked like an absorbing conversation. She was about to walk away from them when something of what they were saying met her ears, and she paused to listen, hidden (ironically) in the Invisibility section.

"So anyway," a stout boy was saying (Aileen thought his name was Ernie, but she wasn't sure), "I told Justin to hide up in our dormitory. I mean to say, if Potter's marked him down as her next victim, it's best if he keeps a low profile for a while. Of course, Justin's been waiting for something like this to happen ever since he let slip to Potter he was Muggle-born. Justin actually told her he'd been down for Eton. That's not the kind of thing you bandy about with Slytherin's heir on the loose, is it?"

"You definitely think it is Potter, then, Ernie?" said a girl with blonde pigtails (Hannah, she thought) anxiously. It sounded almost like she didn't want to believe what Ernie was saying but she was scared and willing to listen to what was being said.

"Hannah," said Ernie, "she's a Parselmouth. Everyone knows that's the mark of a Dark wizard. Have you ever heard of a decent one who could talk to snakes? They called Slytherin himself Serpent-tongue." There was some heavy murmuring at this, and Ernie went on, "Remember what was written on the wall? Enemies of the Heir, Beware. Potter had some sort of run-in with Filch. Next thing we know, Flich's cat's attacked. That first year, Creevey, was annoying Potter in the corridors, continually badgering her. Next thing we know - Creevey's been attacked."

"She always seems so nice, though. She didn't appear to hate Justin and I heard that she was helping out the first years," said Hannah uncertainly, "and, well, she's the one who made You-Know-Who disappear. She can't be all bad, can she?"

Ernie lowered his voice mysteriously, the Hufflepuffs bent closer. "No one knows how she survived that attack by You-Know-Who. I mean to say, she was only a baby when it happened. She should have been blasted into smithereens. Only a really powerful Dark wizard could have survived a curse like that." He dropped his voice until it was barely more than a whisper, and said, "That's probably why You-Know-Who wanted to kill her in the first place. Didn't want another Dark Lord competing with him. I wonder what other powers Potter's been hiding?"

Aileen had heard enough. She turned on her heel and walked out of the library. Aileen walked down the corridor with a frown on her face. Planning…

"Oh, hello, Hagrid," Aileen said, pulled from her thoughts by the presence of her large friend.

Hagrid's face was entirely hidden by a woolly, snow-covered balaclava, but it couldn't possibly be any-one else, as he filled most of the corridor in his moleskin overcoat. A dead rooster was hanging from one of his massive, gloved hands.

"All righ', Aileen?" he said, pulling up the balaclava so he could speak. "Why aren't yeh in class?"

"Canceled," said Aileen, "What're you doing in here?"

Hagrid held up the limp rooster. "Second one killed this term," he explained. "It's either foxes or a Blood-Suckin Bugbear, an' I need the Headmaster's permission ter put a charm around the hen coop." He peered more closely at Aileen from under his thick, snow-flecked eyebrows. "Yeh sure yeh're all righ'?"

"It's nothing," she said. "I'd better get going, Hagrid, it's Transfiguration next and I've got to pick up my books." She walked off.

Aileen went up the stairs and turned along another corridor, which was particularly dark; the torches had been extinguished by a strong, icy draft that was blowing through a loose windowpane. She was halfway down the passage when she nearly tripped headlong over something lying on the floor. She squinted down at what it was and felt as though her stomach had dissolved.

Justin Finch-Fletchley was lying on the floor, rigid and cold, a look of shock frozen on his face, his eyes staring blankly at the ceiling. And that wasn't all. Next to him was another figure, the strangest sight Aileen had ever seen. It was Nicolas no longer pearly-white and transparent, but black and smoky, floating immobile and horizontal, six inches off the floor. His head was half off and his face wore an expression of shock identical to Justin's.

Aileen ran to the nearest classroom and threw open the door.

"Miss Potter, what-" Professor McGonagall exclaimed from the front of her fifth year classroom.

"Professor, Justin, Nicolas, they've been attacked." Aileen said, her eyes wide.

"Show me." Professor McGonagall ordered as Aileen left the classroom. They came to a stop at Justin's side just as Peeves came flying through a door. He spotted Nicolas and Justin and before either of them could stop him he filled his lungs and screamed:

"ATTACK! ATTACK! ANOTHER ATTACK! NO MORTAL OR GHOST IS SAFE! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! ATTAAAACK!"

Crash – crash – crash - door after door flew open along the corridor and people flooded out joining McGonagall and her class in the corridor. For several long minutes, there was a scene of such confusion that Justin was in danger of being squashed and people kept standing in Nicolas. Aileen crouched above Justin, taking many kicks as students stampeded in the corridor. The teachers shouted for quiet. Professor McGonagall used her wand to set off a loud bang, which restored silence, and ordered everyone back into their classes. Aileen stood up from her protective position and just as the scene cleared somewhat Ernie the Hufflepuff arrived, panting, on the scene.

"Caught in the act!" Ernie yelled, his face stark white, pointing his finger dramatically at Aileen.

"That will do, Macmillan!" said Professor McGonagall sharply.

Peeves was bobbing overhead, now grinning wickedly, surveying the scene; Peeves always loved chaos. As the teachers bent over Justin and Nicolas, examining them, Peeves broke into song:

"Oh, Potter, you rotter, oh, what have you done, You're killing off' students, you think it's good fun -"

"That's enough Peeves!" barked Professor McGonagall, and Peeves zoomed away backward, with his tongue stuck out at Aileen.

Justin was carried up to the hospital wing by Professor Flitwick and Professor Sinistra of the Astronomy department, but nobody seemed to know what to do for Nicolas. In the end, Professor McGonagall conjured a large fan out of thin air, which she gave to Ernie with instructions to waft Nicolas up the stairs. This Ernie did, fanning Nicolas along like a silent black hovercraft. This left Aileen and Professor McGonagall alone together.

"This way, Potter," she said.

"Professor,I am not the one attacking students." Aileen informed her bluntly as they walked.

"This is out of my hands, Potter," said Professor McGonagall curtly.

"To hell with that; the way you're acting is making the students hate me. None of you are standing up for me and that is causing the students to attack me. I may be able to dodge spells but sometimes my friends aren't fast enough." Aileen said, her tone hard.

Since Colin had been attacked she had been the subject of harsh tongues and spell fire. So far none had succeed in hitting her and the only reason her friends had not been hit was because she cast a shield spell over them. Since the dueling club the attacks had been getting worse.

McGonagall didn't answer, they justmarched in silenceto the headmaster's office. They stoppedbefore a large and extremely ugly stone gargoylethat Aileen had been in front of only two days before.

"Lemon drop!" she said.

The gargoyle sprang suddenly to life and hopped aside as the wall behind him split in two. Behind the wall was a spiral staircase that was moving smoothly upward, like an escalator. As she and Professor McGonagall stepped onto it, Aileen heard the wall thud closed behind them. They rose upward in circles, higher and higher, until at last, slightly dizzy, Aileen saw a gleaming oak door ahead, with a brass knocker in the shape of a griffin.

They stepped off the stone staircase at the top, and Professor McGonagall rapped on the door. It opened silently and they entered. Professor McGonagall told Aileen to wait and left her there, alone. Aileen looked of all the teacher's offices that Aileen had been in, Dumbledore's was the most interesting.

It was a large and beautiful circular room, full of funny little noises. A number of curious silver instruments stood on spindle-legged tables, whirring and emitting little puffs of smoke. The walls were covered with portraits of old headmasters and headmistresses, all of whom were snoozing gently in their frames.

There was also an enormous, claw-footed desk, and, sitting on a shelf behind it, a shabby, tattered wizard's hat - the Sorting Hat. There was only one difference in the room that she could spot. On Saturday the golden perch that stood behind the door was empty, however today a decrepit-looking bird that resembled a half-plucked turkey sat on it. It was making a gagging noise and Aileen thought it looked very ill. Its eyes were dull and, even as Aileen watched, a couple more feathers fell out of its tail. Then suddenly the bird burst into flames.

Aileen stared in shock for a moment before she realized what the bird was – a phoenix. Aileen had heard rumors that the headmaster had gained a phoenix as a familiar but she had not thought them to be true. Apparently the rumors were, for once, correct. The bird, meanwhile, had become a fireball; it gave one loud shriek and next second there was nothing but a smoldering pile of ash on the floor.

The office door opened. Dumbledore came in, looking very somber.

"Professor,your Phoenix just burned." Aileen informed the old man hesitantly.

Dumbledore smiled. "About time, too," he said. "He's been looking dreadful for days; I've been telling him to get a move on."

Aileenlooked back to the perch in time to see a tiny, wrinkled, newborn bird poke its head out of the ashes. It was quite as ugly as the old one. Aileen moved forward and gently removed the chick from the ashes, brushing him clean and stroking him down the spine. The Phoenix thrilled softly in pleasure causing both Aileen and the headmaster to relax.

"It's a shame you had to see him on a Burning Day," said Dumbledore, seating himself behind his desk and motioning Aileen to the seat across from him. "Fawkes is really very handsome most of the time, wonderful red and gold plumage. Fascinating creatures, phoenixes. They can carry immensely heavy loads, their tears have healing powers, and they make highly faithful pets."

Aileen continued to gently run her thumb along Fawkes spine as she sat in the seat offered to her, waiting for Dumbledore to bring up the topic that had led her to being in his office. But Dumbledore just fixed Aileen with his penetrating, light-blue starethat Aileen met head on. She hadn't done anything wrong or against the school rules (technically she couldn't get in trouble for brewing the polyjuice until she actually took some).

Before Dumbledore could speak another word, however, the door of the office flew open with an almighty bang and Hagrid burst in, a wild look in his eyes, his balaclava perched on top of his shaggy blackhead and the dead rooster still swinging from his hand.

"It wasn' Aileen, Professor Dumbledore!" said Hagrid urgently. "I was talkin' ter her seconds before that kid was found, she never had time, sir -" Dumbledore tried to say something, but Hagrid went ranting on, waving the rooster around in his agitation, sending feathers everywhere. "- it can't've bin her, I'll swear it in front o' the Ministry o' Magic if I have to-"

"Hagrid, I-"

"- yeh've got the wrong girl, sir, I know Aileen never -'

"Hagrid!" said Dumbledore loudly. "I do not think that Aileen attacked those people."

"Oh," said Hagrid, the rooster falling limply at his side. "Right. I'll wait outside then, Headmaster." And he stomped out looking embarrassed.

"I am glade he is my friend," Aileen commented, blinking at the door in shock causing Dumbledore to chuckle.

"Indeed Hagrid is fiercely loyal to his friends." Dumbledore agreed, waving his wand to banish the rooster feathers.

"Headmaster, if you do not believe I attacked those students, why am I here?" Aileen asked brining the conversation back on topic.

"I still want to talk to you."Dumbledore said, considering her, the tips of his long fingers together. "I must ask you, Aileen, whether there is anything you'd like to tell me," he said gently. "Anything at all."

"I think I know what the beast is." Aileen said after a moment. Dumbledore's eyes widened in shock and he leaned forward, his focus completely on Aileen and the twinkle in his eyes gone. "I don't have any proof and something doesn't quite match up, but I believe that Salazar's beast is a basilisk."

"Basilisk, the king of serpents. Why do you believe it is a basilisk child, I do not know much about them, unfortunately?" the headmaster asked leaning back thoughtfully.

"As you said: the Basilisk is the king of Serpents. Salazar Slytherin was a parselmouth so it is not too far a stretch on the imagination that the beast in the chamber is a snake. Since the ability to speak to snakes is only past on through blood only his heirs would be able to control the beast and I imagine he has also put paseltongue passwords on the chamber so that no one else could find it." Aileen frowned. "A Basilisk can grow up to 80feet and can survive thousands of years; it also has the ability to hibernate for a long period of time if it is not being fed which would explain why it has lasted so long. Ron, Hermione and I went back to the corridor where Mrs Norris was attacked and found scorch marks, indicating that something fast and big passed though the corridor – I think you will find something similar at the other scenes."

"How does a basilisk attack?" Dumbledore asked after a moment of silence.

"It has a jaw strong enough to bit through anything; poison that can kill in under two minutes with no known cure and if you look the basilisk in the eye it will kill." Aileen explained.

"Then how are the students still alive?" Dumbledore asked, challenging her theory.

"I'm not sure, but I think it's because they never looked it directly in the eye. The day Mrs Norris was attacked Myrtle had flooded the corridor so there was water everywhere. Colin had his camera, and Justin must have seen it though Nicolas who, as a ghost, can't die a second time." Aileen explained thoughtfully.

"Out of all the monster's I have thought it could be, yours makes the most sense when you take in this remarkable reflective image possibility." Dumbledore agreed. "Is there anything else?"

"No professor, we don't know who is behind the attack or where the chamber is located." Aileen said answering the questions that the Headmaster had asked without saying.

"You have given me much to think about, thank you, Aileen." Dumbledore sighed. Hearing the dismissal Aileen got up, gentle placed Fawkes back on his perch and left the office.

The double attack on Justin and Nearly Headless Nick turned what had been nervousness in to real panic. Curiously, it was Nicolas's fate that seemed to worry people most. What could possibly do that to a ghost? People asked each other; what terrible power could harm someone who was already dead?

There was almost a stampede to book seats on the Hogwarts Express so that students could go home for Christmas.

"At this rate, we'll be the only ones left," Ron told Aileen and Hermione. "Us, Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle. What a jolly holiday it's going to be."

Crabbe and Goyle, who always did whatever Malfoy did, had signed up to stay over the holidays, too. But Aileen was glad that most people were leaving. She was tired of people skirting around her in the corridors, tired of all the muttering, pointing, and hissing as she passed; she was especially tired of the curses, hexes and jinx's being sent at her.

"The Polyjuice Potion's nearly ready. We'll be getting the truth out of Malfoy any day now."

At last the term ended, and a silence deep as the snow on the grounds descended on the castle. Aileen found it peaceful, rather than gloomy, and enjoyed the fact that she, Hermione, and the Weasleys had the run of Gryffindor Tower, which meant they could play Exploding Snap loudly without bothering anyone, and practice duelling in private.

Percy, Fred, George, and Ginny had chosen to stay at school rather than visit Bill in Egypt with Mr. And Mrs. Weasley. Aileen figured that their excuses to stay (extra study, keeping an eye on their little brother/sister and wanting to experience a Hogwarts Christmas) was just an excuse so that the Weasley parents didn't have to spend more money trying to get the whole troop to Egypt. According to Percy, the eldest two Weasleys normally came home for Christmas, but just as Charlie couldn't get Christmas off last year, Bill's excavation this year was taking longer than they had predicted and so he wouldn't be finished until the New Year. From what Aileen could determine, the eldest Weasley children were trying to arrange time off together around the end of school term so that they could spend time with their entire family which is something they haven't quite managed since the Christmas before last (either Bill or Charlie had been missing at any of the gatherings or in the case of the year before the three middle children).

Aileen once again made frequent trips to the lake. She had only seen her dad a hand full of times since the first time she met him in the lake but she enjoyed spending her time with the other creatures that inhabited the lake. She was able to get some practice with her various weapons against the warriors of the Mer-village who were sometimes willing to spare the time to spar with her. There was also the times that the nymphs travelled to the lack for a short amount of time to tell her stories of her dad, brother and atlantis.

Christmas morning dawned, cold and did the same thing this year as she had the year before. She woke up early and levitated everyone's presents down to the common room. Then she woke everyone up: Hermione, Ron, Fred, George, Ginny and Percy. She waited for them down in the common room with tea and coffee set out by the excited house-elves.

The opening of the presence was just as fun this year as it was the year before, especially when Percy opened a present, blushed and quickly hid it. He then spent about five minutes fending of the twins and only Aileen telling them to open her present to them stopped them from physically tackling their brother to see what had made him blush.

No one, not even someone dreading taking Polyjuice Potion later, could fail to enjoy Christmas dinner at Hogwarts. The Great Hall looked magnificent. Not only were there a dozen frost-covered Christmas trees and thick streamers of holly and mistletoe crisscrossing the ceiling, but enchanted snow was falling, warm and dry, from the ceiling. Dumbledore led them in a few of his favourite carols, Hagrid booming more and more loudly with every goblet of eggnog he consumed. Percy, who hadn't noticed that Fred had bewitched his prefect badge so that it now read "Pinhead," kept asking them all what they were sniggering at.

Aileen didn't even care that Draco Malfoy was making loud, snide remarks about her new sweater from the Slytherin table. Mrs Weasley had made this sweeter for her and it made her feel like she belong somewhere – like she had a family. Ron had barely finished his third helping of Christmas pudding when Hermione ushered them out of the hall to finalise their plans for the evening.

"We still need a bit of the people you're changing into," said Hermione matter-of-factly, as though she were sending them to the supermarket for laundry detergent.

"And obviously, it'll be best if you can get something of Crabbe's and Goyle's; they're Malfoys best friends, he'll tell them anything. And we also need to make sure the real Crabbe and Goyle can't burst in on us while we're interrogating him. I've got it all worked out," she went on smoothly.

"Can I inquire as to why I must become a boy?" Aileen asked but was ignored as Hermioneheld up two plump chocolate cakes.

"I've filled these with a simple Sleeping Draught. All you have to do is make sure Crabbe and Goyle find them. You know how greedy they are, they're bound to eat them. Once they're asleep, pull out a few of their hairs and hide them in a broom closet."

Aileen and Ron looked incredulously at each other. "Hermione, that plan -"

"Could go seriously wrong -"

But Hermione had a steely glint in her eye not unlike the one Professor McGonagall sometimes had.

"The potion will be useless without Crabbe's and Goyle's hair," she said sternly. "You do want to investigate Malfoy, don't you?"

"Oh, all right, all right," said Aileen, knowing that they were not going to win this argument _._ "But what about you? Whose hair are you ripping out?"

"I've already got mine!" said Hermione brightly, pulling a tiny bottle out of her pocket and showing them the single hair inside it. "Remember Millicent Bulstrode wrestling with me at the Duelling Club? She left this on my robes when she was trying to strangle me! And she's gone home for Christmas—so I'll just have to tell the Slytherins I've decided to come back."

Aileen frowned at Hermione. How was she going to explain Millicent turning up for an hour, and then disappearing again? What would happen when Malfoy mentioned it to Millicent when she returned after Christmas – because Aileen had no doubt that Malfoy would enquire over the strange behaviour. Then there was the fact that Aileen had rarely if ever seen Millicent in Malfoy's presence. Normally the girl hung out with Theodore Nott and Blaise Zabini or Daphne Greengrass and Tracy Davis depending on the day. They were taking a big enough risk impersonation Crabbe and Goyle without adding the complications and risks of Hermione's identity to the plan.

When Hermione had bustled off to check on the Polyjuice Potion again, Ron turned to Aileen with a doom-laden expression. "Have you ever heard of a plan where so many things could go wrong?"

Much to Ron and Aileen's shock the first part of the plan went really well. Goyle and Crabbe ate the cakes and they stuffed them in a closet just off the entrance hall, taking their shoes and hurrying back to the bathroom. They could hardly see for the thick black smoke issuing from the stall in which Hermione was stirring the cauldron.

Pulling their robes up over their faces, Aileen and Ron knocked softly on the door.

"Hermione?" They heard the scrape of the lock and Hermione emerged, shiny faced and looking anxious. Behind her they heard the gloop gloop of the bubbling, glutinous potion. Three glass tumblers stood ready on the toilet seat.

"Did you get them?" Hermione asked breathlessly. Aileen showed her Goyle's hair. "Good. And I sneaked these spare robes out of the laundry," Hermione said, holding up a small sack. "You'll need bigger sizes once you're Crabbe and Goyle."

The three of them stared into the cauldron. Close up, the potion looked like thick, dark mud, bubbling sluggishly. "I'm sure I've done everything right," said Hermione, nervously rereading the splotched page of Moste Potente Potions. "It looks like the book says it should... Once we've drunk it, we'll have exactly an hour before we change back into ourselves."

"Now what?" Ron whispered.

"We separate it into three glasses and add the hairs."

Hermione ladled large dollops of the potion into each of the glasses. Then, her hand trembling, she shook Millicent Bulstrode's hair out of its bottle into the first glass. The potion hissed loudly like a boiling kettle and frothed madly. A second later, it had turned a sick sort of yellow.

"Urgh - essence of Millicent Bulstrode," said Ron, eyeing it with loathing. "Bet it tastes disgusting."

"Add yours, then," said Hermione.

Aileen dropped Goyle's hair into the middle glass and Ron put Crabbe's into the last one. Both glasses hissed and frothed: Goyle's turned the khaki color of a booger, Crabbe's a dark, murky brown.

"Hang on," said Aileen as Ron and Hermione reached for their glasses. "We'd better not all drink them in here... Once we turn into Crabbe and Goyle we won't fit. And Millicent Bulstrode's no pixie. We should also change into the other robes first, I already have doubts about turning into Goyle without having to see anything."

"Good thinking," said Ron, unlocking the door. "We'll take separate stalls."

Careful not to spill a drop of her Polyjuice Potion, Aileen slipped into the middle stall and placed the cup on the toilet. She quickly stripped down and pulled on the cloths Hermione had gotten. They were very loose on her and Aileen shifted uncomfortably.

"Ready?" she called.

"Ready," came Ron's and Hermione's voices.

"One-two-three-"

Pinching her nose, Aileen drank the potion down in two large gulps. It tasted like overcooked cabbage. Immediately, her insides started writhing as though she'd just swallowed live snakes -doubled up, she wondered whether she was going to be sick - then a burning sensation spread rapidly from her stomach to the very ends of her fingers and toes - next, bringing her to her knees, came a horrible melting feeling, as the skin all over her body bubbled like hot wax - and before her eyes, her hands began to grow, the fingers thickened, the nails broadened, the knuckles were bulging like bolts - her shoulders stretched painfully and a prickling on her forehead told her that hair was creeping down toward her eyebrows— her chest expanded like a barrel bursting its hoops.

As suddenly as it had started, everything stopped.

Taking a deep breath Aileen stood up. So this was what it felt like, being Goyle. Her large hand trembling, she laced up Goyle's boatlike shoes. She reached up to brush her hair out of her eyes and met only the short growth of wiry bristles, low on her forehead.

"Are you two okay?" Aileen called. Goyle's low rasp of a voice issued from her mouth.

"Yeah," came the deep grunt of Crabbe from her right.

Aileen unlocked her door and stepped in front of the cracked mirror. Goyle stared back at her out of dull, deep-set eyes. Ron's door opened. They stared at each other. Except that he looked pale and shocked, Ron was indistinguishable from Crabbe, from the pudding-bowl haircut to the long, gorilla arms.

"This is unbelievable," said Ron, approaching the mirror and prodding Crabbe's flat nose. "Unbelievable."

"We'd better get going," said Aileen, loosening the watch that was cutting into Goyle's thick wrist. "We'reon the clock now."

Ron, who had been gazing at Aileen, said, "You don't know how bizarre it is to see Goyle thinking." He banged on Hermione's door. "C'mon, we need to go -"

A high-pitched voice answered him. "I - I don't think I'm going to come after all. You go on without me."

"Hermione, we know Millicent Bulstrode's ugly, no one's going to know it's you -"

"No-really-I don't think I'll come. You two hurry up, you're wasting time"

"Hermione, are you okay?" said Aileen through the door.

"Fine-I'm fine-go on-"

Aileen looked at her watch. Five of their precious sixty minutes had already passed. "We'll meet you back here, all right?" she said.

Aileen and Ron opened the door of the bathroom carefully, checked that the coast was clear, and set off.

"Don't swing your arms like that," Aileen muttered to Ron.

"Eh?"

"Crabbe holds them sort of stiff... "

"How's this?"

"Yeah, that's better..."

They went down the marble staircase. Aileen led Ron to the entrance of the dungeons where she had seen Slytherins coming from. They had barely made it to the stairs when a girl with long, curly hair emerged from the entrance.

"Ravenclaw." Aileen grunted with a frown, wondering why the girl was down there.

Ron closed his mouth since he was about to ask where the common room was but Aileen's grunt stopped him. Aileen led Ron down the steps and through the corridor, in the general direction that she knew the common room they were looking for was.

After a quarter of an hour of walking they heard a sudden movement ahead.

"Ha!" said Ron excitedly. "There's one of them now!"

The figure was emerging from a side room. As they hurried nearer, however, their hearts sank. It wasn't a Slytherin, it was Percy.

"What're you doing down here?" said Ron in surprise. Percy looked affronted.

"That," he said stiffly, "is none of your business. It's Crabbe, isn't it?"

"Wh-oh, yeah," said Ron.

"Well, get off to your dormitories," said Percy sternly. "It's not safe to go wandering around dark corridors these days."

"You are," Ron pointed out.

"I," said Percy, drawing himself up, "am a prefect. Nothing's about to attack me."

A voice suddenly echoed behind Aileen and Ron. Draco Malfoy was strolling toward them, and for the first time in her life, Aileen was pleased to see him.

"There you are," he drawled, looking at them. "Have you two been pigging out in the Great Hall all this time? I've been looking for you; I want to show you something really funny." Malfoy glanced witheringly at Percy. "And what're you doing down here, Weasley?" he sneered.

Percy looked outraged. "You want to show a bit more respect to a school prefect!" he said. "I don't like your attitude!"

Malfoy sneered and motioned for Aileen and Ron to follow him. Ron and her hurried after Malfoy, who said as they turned into the next passage,

"That Peter Weasley-"

"Percy," Ron corrected him automatically.

"Whatever," said Malfoy. "I've noticed him sneaking around a lot lately. And I bet I know what he's up to. He thinks he's going to catch Slytherin's heir single-handed."

He gave a short, derisive laugh. Malfoy paused by a stretch of bare, damp stone wall.

"What's the new password again?" he said to Aileen.

"Er-" said Aileen, with a bewildered look that Goyle always wore whenever a teacher asked him a question in class.

"Oh, yeah - pure-blood!" said Malfoy, not listening, and a stone door concealed in the wall slid open.

Malfoy marched through it, and Aileen and Ron followed him. The Slytherin common room was a long, low underground room with rough stone walls and ceiling from which round, greenish lamps were hanging on chains. A fire was crackling under an elaborately carved mantelpiece ahead of them, and several Slytherins were silhouetted around it in high-backed chairs.

"Wait here," said Malfoy to Aileen and Ron, motioning them to a pair of empty chairs set back from the fire. "I'll go and get it my father's just sent it to me-" Wondering what Malfoy was going to show them, Aileen and Ron sat down, doing their best to look at home. Malfoy came back a minute later, holding what looked like a newspaper clipping. He thrust it under Ron's nose.

"That'll give you a laugh," he said. Aileen saw Ron's eyes widen in shock. He read the clipping quickly, gave a very forced laugh, and handed it to Aileen. It had been clipped out of the Daily Prophet, and it said:

 _INQUIRY AT THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC_

 _Arthur Weasley, Head of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office, was today fined fifty Galleons for be-witching a Muggle car. Mr. Lucius Malfoy, a governor of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where the enchanted car crashed earlier this year, called today for Mr. Weasley's resignation. "Weasley has brought the Ministry into disrepute," Mr. Malfoy told our reporter. "He is clearly unfit to draw up our laws and his ridiculous Muggle Protection Act should be scrapped immediately."_

 _Mr. Weasley was unavailable for comment, although his wife told reporters to clear off or she'd set the family ghoul on them._

Aileen forced a laugh as she handed the clipping back to him.

"Arthur Weasley loves Muggles so much he should snap his wand in half and go and join them," said Malfoy scornfully. "You'd never know the Weasleys were pure-bloods, the way they behave."

Ron's-or rather, Crabbe's-face was contorted with fury.

"What's up with you, Crabbe?" snapped Malfoy.

"Stomachache," Ron grunted.

"Well, go up to the hospital wing and give all those Mudbloods a kick from me," said Malfoy, snickering. "You know, I'm surprised the Daily Prophet hasn't reported all these attacks yet," he went on thoughtfully. "I suppose Dumbledore's trying to hush it all up. He'll be sacked if it doesn't stop soon. Father's always said old Dumbledore's the worst thing that's ever happened to this place. He loves Muggleborns. A decent headmaster would never've let slime like that Creevey in." Malfoy started taking pictures with an imaginary camera and did a cruel but accurate impression of Colin: "`Potter, can I have your picture, Potter? Can I have your autograph? Can I lick your shoes, please, Potter?"' He dropped his hands and looked at Aileen and Ron. "What's the matter with you two?" Far too late, Aileen and Ron forced themselves to laugh, but Malfoy seemed satisfied; perhaps Crabbe and Goyle were always slow on the uptake.

"Saint Potter, the Mudbloods' friend," said Malfoy slowly. "She's another one with no proper wizard feeling, or she wouldn't go around with that jumped up Granger Mudblood. And people think she's Slytherin's heir! I wish I knew who it is," said Malfoy petulantly. "I could help them."

Ron's jaw dropped so that Crabbe looked even more clueless than usual. Fortunately, Malfoy didn't notice, and Aileen, thinking fast, said, "You must have some idea who's behind it all... "

"You know I haven't, Goyle, how many times do I have to tell you?" snapped Malfoy. "And Father won't tell me anything about the last time the Chamber was opened either. Of course, it was fifty years ago, so it was before his time, but he knows all about it, and he says that it was all kept quiet and it'll look suspicious if I know too much about it. But I know one thing-last time the Chamber of Secrets was opened, a Mudblood died. So I bet it's a matter of time before one of them's killed this time... I hope it's Granger," he said with relish.

Ron was clenching Crabbe's gigantic fists. Feeling that it would be a bit of a giveaway if Ron punched Malfoy, Aileen shot him a warning look and said, "D'you know if the person who opened the Chamber last time was caught?"

"Oh, yeah... Whoever it was expelled," said Malfoy. "They're probably still in Azkaban."

"Azkaban?" said Aileen, puzzled.

"Azkaban-the wizard prison, Goyle," said Malfoy, looking at her in disbelief "Honestly, if you were any slower, you'd be going backward."

He shifted restlessly in his chair and said, "Father says to keep my head down and let the Heir of Slytherin get on with it. He says the school needs ridding of all the Mudblood filth, but not to get mixed up in it. Of course, he's got a lot on his plate at the moment. You know the Ministry of Magic raided our manor last week?" Aileen tried to force Goyle's dull face into a look of concern. "Yeah..." said Malfoy. "Luckily, they didn't find much. Father's got some very valuable Dark Arts stuff. But luckily, we've got our own secret chamber under the drawing-room floor."

Aileen saw the excitement on Ron's face at that declaration and kicked him hard in the shins. "OW!" Ron explained.

Malfoy looked at him. So did Aileen. Ron blushed. Even his hair was turning red. His nose was also slowly lengthening-their hour was up, Ron was turning back into himself, and from the look of horror he was suddenly giving Aileen, she must be, too.

Aileen jumped up and hulled Ron to his feet, "I'll take him to the hospital wing." Aileen grunted in Goyle's monotone voice then pulled Ron out of the common room as quickly as she could.

Aileen could feel her feet slipping around in Goyle's huge shoes and had to hoist up her robes as she shrank; they crashed up the steps into the dark entrance hall, which was full of a muffled pounding coming from the closet where they'd locked Crabbe and Goyle. Leaving their shoes outside the closet door, they sprinted in their socks up the marble staircase toward Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.

"Well, it wasn't a complete waste of time," Ron panted, closing the bathroom door behind them. "I know we still haven't found out who's doing the attacks, but I'm going to write to Dad tomorrow and tell him to check under the Malfoys' drawing room."

Aileen checked her face in the cracked mirror. She was back to normal. She put her glasses on and divided into the stool she was in before to change. Ron hammered on the door of Hermione's stall.

"Hermione, come out, we've got loads to tell you-"

"Go away!" Hermione squeaked.

"What's the matter?" said Ron. "You must be back to normal by now, we are-"

But Moaning Myrtle glided suddenly through the stall door. "Ooooooh, wait till you see," she said. "It's awful-"

Aileen came out her stool completely dressed in her normal cloths. "Hermione?" Aileen called in concern.

They heard the lock slide back and Hermione emerged, sobbing, her robes pulled up over her head.

"What's up?" said Ron uncertainly. "Have you still got Millicent's nose or something?"

Hermione let her robes fall and Ron backed into the sink. Her face was covered in black fur. Her eyes had turned yellow and there were long, pointed ears poking through her hair. "It was a c-cat hair!" she howled. "M-Millicent Bulstrode m-must have a cat! And the p-potion isn't supposed to be used for animal transformations!"

"Uh-oh," said Ron.

"You'll be teased something dreadful," said Myrtle happily.

"Its okay, Hermione," said Aileen quickly. "We'll take you up to the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey never asks too many questions... "

It took a long time to persuade Hermione to leave the bathroom. Moaning Myrtle sped them on their way with a hearty guffaw. "Wait till everyone finds out you've got a tail!"

Word count: 21,704

Word count is confused. Having removed a minimum of four hundred bold text (representing what has been copied) and not adding any further bold text my copied word count seems to have gone from 9,116 to 11,279. Furthermore, of my own words I have added around four hundred words, bring the independent word count from 9,265 to 10,425. Therefore an impossibility has occurred. What I made go down as gone up, and what went up doesn't balance out due to the original inconsistency. Therefore, I'm not including the word count as I did last time until I can figure out what the hell happened.

I'll leave you all to puzzle it out. And if you do figure it out, let me know.

Edited: 30/08/2017


	15. Chapter 15: Confirmation Edited

Okay, lets start with: I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER. I'm just happily playing in JK's sand box. I DON'T OWN PERCY JACKSON either. I'm only allowed to play on the swing sets (pouts).

So, the next thing on my list of things to put on the top of this story: I've used a lot of the book structure of the first four years. By this I mean Aileen will be face a troll, save a dragon, go down the third floor, be blamed for opening the chamber, reveal her parseltongue abilities in the dueling club, save Ginny and kill the basilisk, and confront Sirius at the end of third year. Aileen will also be entered into the goblet, however she will be complete the tasks completely differently to Harry. If you don't like stories that do this then this isn't the story for you. Although I divert most majorly from the story line after book four, there are points through the first four years were Aileen dose something that Harry would never do because that is the way I've portrayed my character.

And finally, I have heavily edited the first twenty four chapters. You need to re-read the entire story to understand what happens after that point because it all ties together. By heavily edited, I mean nearly 40% of my story has completely been re-written. There is better characterization, more realistic sword skills and a little bit more on the emotional explanation of my character.

* * *

Chapter 15: year two: Confirmation

Following the polyjuice incident Hermione spent several weeks in the hospital wing. It seemed Madam Pomfrey was having difficulty reversing the partial transfiguration and was taking step and body part at a time. To ensure privacy, Madam Pomfrey pulled curtains around Hermione's bed and made sure that only Aileen and Ron could visit her. Despite this, when the students returned they attempted to catch glimpses of her. They believed that Hermione had been attacked over the Christmas holidays because it was the only reason that the students could conceive of Hermione missing lessons since her dedication was well known.

Aileen and Ron went to visit her every evening. When the new term started, they brought her each day's homework and Aileen made a copy of her notes in each lesson (which meant she was forced to pay attention in Binns class as opposed to her revision note project since Hermione disapproved of her study method because Aileen hadn't told her the reason behind it). Despite her atrocious spelling (she still hadn't beaten her dyslexia) Hermione was thankful for the notes. In fact, she joked she would probably learn the information better because she would have to focus harder in order to translate what Aileen had written into passible English.

"If I'd sprouted whiskers, I'd take a break from work," said Ron, tipping a stack of books onto Hermione's bedside table one evening.

They had been sent to the library with a list of references texts that Hermione wanted to go through for her transfiguration homework. Aileen didn't know why Hermione insisted on so many references, since Aileen rarely used more than two additionally sources on assigned homework since it wasn't necessary. She could see the point for large projects (such as almost all her extracurricular things) but the homework assignments didn't warrant it nor did any of the teachers expect it (not even Professor Snape!).

"Don't be silly, Ron, I've got to keep up," said Hermione briskly. Her spirits were greatly improved by the fact that all the hair had gone from her face and her eyes were turning slowly back to brown. "I don't suppose you've got any new leads?" she added in a whisper, so that Madam Pomfrey couldn't hear her.

"I think the creature is a basilisk but I'm not sure. I haven't been able to find any books in the library, yet. And if it is a basilisk I don't know how it's getting around the school, who's controlling it or where the chamber is. Dumbledore knows my theory and he believes that I am probable right since it is the most plausible theory so far, despite the lack of deaths." Aileen informed her friends.

"I was so sure it was Malfoy," said Ron, for about the hundredth time since they had taken the polyjuice potion. He was truly disappointed that they couldn't blame it on the one person who had continuously annoyed him since arriving at Hogwarts.

"What's that?" asked Aileen, pointing to something gold sticking out from under Hermione's pillow in an attempt to change the subject.

"Just a get well card," said Hermione hastily, trying to poke it out of sight, but Ron was too quick for her. He pulled it out, flicked it open, and read aloud:

 _"To Miss Granger, wishing you a speedy recovery, from your concerned teacher, Professor Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin, Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defense League, and five-time winner of Witch Weekly's Most Charming-Smile Award."_

Ron looked up at Hermione, disgusted. "You sleep with this under your pillow?"

But Hermione was spared answering by Madam Pomfrey sweeping over with her evening dose of medicine.

"Is Lockhart the smarmiest bloke you've ever met, or what?" Ron said to Aileen as they left the infirmary and started up the stairs toward Gryffindor Tower.

Aileen didn't answer. The only reason she wasn't truly worried about Hermione's interaction with Lockhart was because she had been keeping a close eye on the man. He still hadn't been alone with a single student (male or female) since his detention with her, nor had he accepted detention responsibilities. Despite his charming on the female population he wasn't taking advantage of anyone.

Fortunately, Ron was prevented from pressing Aileen on her sudden silence by the sound of an angry voice on the floor above them.

"That's Filch," Aileen identified, as they darted up the stairs and hide around the corner to where the first attack had happened. She wasn't making the same mistake twice and running blindly onto the scene. The only reasons he had approached this time was because Filch sounded angry and not scared or distraught.

"You don't think someone else's been attacked?" said Ron tensely.

"I don't think so. I think he's complaining." Aileen said, frowning in concentration as she tried to pick up Filch's words.

" _... Even more work for me! Mopping all night, like I haven't got enough to do! No, this is the final straw, I'm going to Dumbledore... "_

His footsteps receded along the out-of-sight corridor and they heard a distant door slam. They poked their heads around the corner. Filch had clearly been manning his usual lookout post: They were once again on the spot where Mrs. Norris had been attacked. They saw at a glance what Filch had been shouting about. A great flood of water stretched over half the corridor, and it looked as though it was still seeping from under the door of Myrtle's bathroom. Now that Filch had stopped shouting, they could hear Myrtle's wails echoing off the bathroom walls.

"Now what's up with her?" said Ron.

"Let's go and see," said Aileen, leading the way through the water without a care about her robes. Normally Myrtle didn't react so explosively. Even when Peeves had insulted her on Halloween she had not caused a flood this bad. To have flooded the bathroom and the corridor meant that Myrtle was beyond upset.

Myrtle was crying, if possible, louder and harder than ever before. She seemed to be hiding down her usual toilet. It was dark in the bathroom because the candles had been extinguished in the great rush of water that had left both walls and floor soaking wet.

"Myrtle,what's wrong?"Aileen asked concerned. She had not seen the ghost this upset in a long time. Actually, Aileen didn't think she had ever seen Myrtle this upset at all, Aileen corrected herself as she realized that Myrtle had thrown the water out of the toilets and sinks with such force that several doors had fallen from their hinges or been cracked down the middle.

"Who's that?" glugged Myrtle miserably. "Come to throw something else at me?"

Aileen waded across to her stall. "Why would I throw something at you?" Aileen kept her voice gentle like she was talking to a small child or a scared animal.

"Don't ask me," Myrtle shouted, emerging with a wave of yet more water, which splashed onto the already sopping floor. "Here I am, minding my own business, and someone thinks it's funny to throw a book at me..."

"Where were you when they threw the book?" Aileen asked, stopping Ron from saying anything.

"I was in the U-bend minding my own business, thinking about death, and it fell right through the top of my head."

"Then maybe the person didn't know you were there. Maybe they just wanted to flush the book away and they accidently threw it through your head." Aileen reasoned.

Myrtle blinked and stopped crying. "I hadn't thought of that." She admitted before smiling brightly. "Thanks, Aileen." And then the young ghost turned and dived back down the toilet.

Aileen just shook her head. Myrtle was forever stuck in that stage of life were hormones were running wild and it made her a very emotional and temperamental ghost who had regularly mood swings. It didn't help that she was a relatively young ghost, and so hadn't settled into her afterlife yet.

"I found the book!" Ron called from where he was kneeling by the sink. A small, thin book lay there. It had a shabby black cover and was as wet as everything else in the bathroom.

Aileen pointed her wand at it: "Wingardium Leviosa" she said picking the book up and gently placing it on top of the sink.

"Good thinking," said Ron. "It could be dangerous."

Now that the book was closer Aileen noticed that it was a diary, and the faded year on the cover told her it was fifty years old. Using her wand Aileen carefully opened it. On the first page she could just make out the name "T.M. Riddle" in smudged ink.

"Hang on, "said Ron. "I know that name... T.M. Riddle got an award for special services to the school fifty years ago."

"This diary was written the same time as the chamber was opened, maybe it holds some answers." Aileen said then carefully she peeled the wet pages apart. They were completely blank. There wasn't the faintest trace of writing on any of them.

"I wonder why someone wanted to flush it away?" said Ron curiously. Aileen turned to the back cover of the book and saw the printed name of a variety store on Vauxhall Road, London.

"He must've been Muggle-born, or at the very least non-magically raised." said Aileen thoughtfully. "To have bought a diary from Vauxhall Road..."

"Well, it's not much use to you," said Ron.

Aileen, however, pocketed itintending to find some revealing spells – or showing it to Hermione – which ever one gets her the answer about why this diary felt important.

As the days passed, the mood inside the castle became more positive. There hadn't been an attack sine Justine and Nicolas before Christmas, and Professor Sprout reported that the Mandrakes were entering their teenage years, meaning they would be mature enough in only a couple of months. The student's would be restored by April, or May at the latest.

Most of the students were under the impression that the heir had stopped attacking because it was getting to risky. The teachers were still on high alert and the Headmaster was still looking into the cast. Most of the students' had started to doubt their belief that it was Aileen, but there was still a large group who believed that she had given herself away during the dueling club.

Peeves had been feeding the chaos, his "Potter Rotter" song had a dance routine to match, which Aileen was sure the twins had helped him think of. She knew that he was trying to make light of the situation because he did not believe that she was the Heir (none of the ghost thought it was her because they knew of her godly heritage). However, very few people took his joke in good humour and his actions were being used as a means of vindication for the 'blame Potter squad'.

Lockhart was trying to make himself seem big and important by bragging about his presence stopping the monster. Aileen overheard him speaking with McGonagall who looked very disproving as she listening in silence to Lockhart's prattle. He seemed to be under the impression that the school just needed a moral boost.

Lockhart's idea of a morale-booster became clear at breakfast time on February fourteenth. Aileen hadn't had much sleep because of a late running Quidditch practice the night before, and she hurried down to the Great Hall, slightly late. She had packed a bag full of cloths that used to belong to the Dursleys that she had made presentable, warm and comfortable clothing and was going to send them of with Hedwig to a Werewolf shelter she had herd of when she was researching them).

She thought, for a moment, that she'd walked through the wrong doors. The walls were all covered with large, lurid pink flowers. Worse still, heart-shaped confetti was falling from the pale blue ceiling. Aileen went over to the Gryffindor table, where Ron was sitting looking sickened, and Hermione seemed to have been overcome with giggles.

"What's going on?" Aileen asked them, sitting down and trying not to sneer at the amount of pink in the room.

Ron pointed to the teachers' table, apparently too disgusted to speak. Lockhart, wearing lurid pink robes to match the decorations, was waving for silence. The teachers on either side of him were looking stony-faced. From where she sat, Aileen could see a muscle going in Professor McGonagall's cheek. Snape looked as though someone had just fed him a large beaker of Skele-Grow and his wand hand was twitching around his knife (which he was holding it the opposite hand to normal as he glared in Lockhart's direction).

"Happy Valentine's Day!" Lockhart shouted. "And may I thank the forty-six people who have so far sent me cards! Yes, I have taken the liberty of arranging this little surprise for you all - and it doesn't end here!" Lockhart clapped his hands and through the doors to the entrance hall marched a dozen surly-looking dwarfs. Not just any dwarfs, however. Lockhart had them all wearing golden wings and carrying harps.

"My friendly, card-carrying cupids!" beamed Lockhart. "They will be roving around the school today delivering your valentines! And the fun doesn't stop here! I'm sure my colleagues will want to enter into the spirit of the occasion! Why not ask Professor Snape to show you how to whip up a Love Potion! And while you're at it, Professor Flitwick knows more about Entrancing Enchantments than any wizard I've ever met, the sly old dog!"

Professor Flitwick buried his face in his hands. Snape was looking as though the first person to ask him for a Love Potion would be force-fed poison or find his dinner knife impeded in their eye.

"Please, Hermione, tell me you weren't one of the forty-six," said Ron as they left the Great Hall for their first lesson.

Hermione suddenly became very interested in searching her bag for her schedule and didn't answer.

All day long, the dwarfs kept barging into their classes to deliver valentines, to the annoyance of the teachers. Every time Aileen saw a dwarf she would grab a set of clothing from her bag and used the switching spell she had Madam Pomfrey teach her a couple of days before. The dwarf would blink in shock before continuing on with is task in much better spirits – evidently they believed that changing their uniforms themselves was a disgrace but they weren't going to protest someone else changing the uniform (loop-holes).

Aileen had managed to avoid getting a valentines letter but late that afternoon as the Gryffindors were walking upstairs for Charms, one of the dwarfs caught up with Aileen.

"Oy, you! 'Aileen Potter!" shouted a particularly grim-looking dwarf, elbowing people out of the way to get to Aileen.

Aileen immediately drew her wand and swopped the cloths on the dwarf causing him to pause. Out of the twenty five dwarfs that Lockhart had been able to hire, she had now given decent cloths to nineteen. She had another twelve sets of cloths in her bag and was determined to find the other dwarfs before the end of the day.

A line of first years, including Ginny,were watching curiously. No one had been able to avoid a valentine yet despite many various attempts at doing so.

"I've got a musical message to deliver to Aileen Potter in person," the Dwarf said although there was almost a gruff a reluctance in his admittance of this fact. Apparently her deed with the cloths had given her some good will in regards to their willingness to embarrass her.

"Did you write it down?" Aileen asked.

"Yeh," the Dwarf grunted.

"Great, I'll give you five sickles if you just give me the piece of paper and then continue on your way." Aileen said.

The dwarf thought for a moment before nodding his head. They exchanged their items before Aileen turned and continued onto her lesson leaving impressed and jealous people behind her. Apparently she was the first person to stop a dwarf from singing the valentine. But she wasn't the last, now that she had shown offering the Dwarf's money stopped an embarrassing scene from taking place, others started giving the Dwarf's money.

Aileen was sat at the desk next to her bed, writing out her homework when she accidently knocked over her ink pot which she had forgotten to replace the lid off. She was able to stop it from hitting everything except the Diary. Then before her shocked eyes Aileen watched the ink disappear. Hermione had cast quite a few detection charms on the diary but none of them had found anything but apparently there was something inside the diary.

Carefully Aileen placed her quill to the Diary and wrote one word: " _Hello_."

The words shone momentarily on the page and then sank without a trace. Then, at last, something happened. Oozing back out of the page, in her very own ink, came words Aileen had never written.

" _Hello, my name is Tom Riddle._ _Who are you and_ _how did you come by my diary_?"

These words, too, faded away. Thinking carefully Aileen replied:

" _My friends call me Raven._ _I found your diary after_ _someone tried to flush it down a toilet._ " Aileen tried to write enough information to gain the diaries trust without giving to much information away about herself. She also needed to be careful since she didn't know what writing in the diary would do to her.

" _Lucky that I recorded my memories in some more lasting way than ink. But I always knew that there would be those who would not want this diary read._ "

" _What is so important about your diary that you took such measures to hide the truth?_ " Aileen wrote.

" _This diary holds memories of terrible things. Things that were covered up. Things that happened at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_."

" _That's where I am now._ _Are you referring to_ _the Chamber of Secrets?_ _It was opened nearly fifty years ago: around the time you were at school if the age of this diary is right."_

Riddle's reply came quickly, his writing becoming untidier, as though he was hurrying to tell all he knew. " _Of course I know about the Chamber of Secrets. In my day, they told us it was a legend that it did not exist. But this was a lie. In my fifth year, the Chamber was opened and the monster attacked several students, finally killing one. I caught the person who'd opened the Chamber and he was expelled. But the Headmaster, Professor Dippet, ashamed that such a thing had happened at Hogwarts, forbade me to tell the truth. A story was given out that the girl had died in a freak accident. They gave me a nice, shiny, engraved trophy for my trouble and warned me to keep my mouth shut. But I knew it could happen again. The monster lived on, and the one who had the power to release it was not imprisoned._ "

" _The chamber has been opened again; who opened it last time?_ " Aileen wrote cautiously, not truly trusting the words that were appearing. It seemed wrong, like they rang with falsehoods.

" _I can show you, if you like,"_ came Riddle's reply. " _You don't have to take my word for it. I can take you there._ "

" _What do you mean, show me?"_ Aileen asked, her survival instincts suddenly kicking into gear.

Before Aileen could do anything the pages of the diary began to blow as though caught in a high wind, stopping halfway through the month of June. The little square for June thirteenth seemed to have turned into a minuscule television screen. Before she knew what was happening, she was tilting forward; the window was widening, she felt her body leave her chair, and she was pitched headfirst through the opening in the page, into a whirl of colour and shadow.

She felt her feet hit solid ground, and stood, shaking, as the blurred shapes around her came suddenly into focus. She knew immediately where she was. This circular room with the sleeping portraits was Dumbledore's office - but it wasn't Dumbledore who was sitting behind the desk. A wizened, frail-looking wizard, bald except for a few wisps of white hair, was reading a letter by candlelight. Aileen recognized him from the painting that hangs directly behind Dumbledore – it was headmaster Dippet. And all the little trinkets that Dumbledore had displayed around his office were not present here.

Riddle must have somehow pulled her into the memory, Aileen theorized.

As the memory continued Aileen learnt quite a lot of information – probably more than Tom had wanted to reveal. Tom Riddle was an orphan who obviously hated where he lived (maybe because of abuse or bullying?) and when the attacks threatened to close the school he decided to do something. He had discovered that Hagrid was keeping an Acromantula in the school and placed the blame for the death of the school girl on him. But Dumbledore obviously didn't believe the tail being spun by Riddle because he convinced Dippet to hire Hagrid.

The second years were distracted when they were asked to choose their third year electives without an guidance or input from the teachers. Despite the fact that a lot of career choices depend of third year electives, the students were given no help. This left those without magical relatives or the ability to research, panicking with indecision.

"...it could affect our whole future," Hermione said sternly as the Gryffindor third years sat together trying to make their decision.

"I just want to give up Potions," said Neville said miserably from behind his stake of letters.

"Me to." Lavender agreed with a look of disgust on her face as she picked divination and Care without any impute from anyone else.

"But it's important if you want to go onto healing." Parvati disagreed, showing that she was more than a pretty face by picking divination and Arithmancy.

"And we can't anyway," said Ron gloomily. "We keep all our old subjects, or I'd've ditched Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"If you really don't want to continue with them and you won't need them for your future career, then you can drop it after OWLs." Aileen reminded the group, having spoken with Fred and George who were in their fourth year and trying to decide what subjects they were going to pass the following year and what ones they were going to drop to give them more time for planning their pranking.

"Yeah, but that's two years away." Ron muttered in disgust.

"But they're very important subjects!" said Hermione, shockednot understanding how people could limit their educational (and future careers) choices.

"Not the way Lockhart teaches it," Ron pointed out sullenly. "I haven't learned anything from him except not to set pixies loose."

Neville had been sent letters from all the witches and wizards in his family, all giving him different advice on what to worried, he sat reading the subject lists with his tongue poking out, asking people whether they thought Arithmancy sounded more difficult than the study of Ancient Runes.

"What do you want to do as a job, Neville?" Aileen asked, finally cutting through Neville's frustrated panic.

"I want to be a Herbiologist." He answered immediately and without any thought.

Aileen looked through the book she was reading until she found herbologists and the associated NEWTs it needed. "Then you need Care of Magical creatures, if you're going out to look or cultivate plants you are going to want to know what animals you're facing. Other than the core lessons, you don't actually need anything else. Go to the library and read the introductory chapter's for the recommended third year books of each option lesson and decided which one you would like to do based on enjoyment or easiness, depending on your personal preference." Aileen advised.

"Thanks." Neville said, bundling up his letters which were no longer needed.

"What's the book say about law?" Seamus asked interested, having no idea what to choose even though he had magical family.

"Well there are a few jobs under law," Aileen answered frowning as she flipped through the book. "Most of them seem to agree that Arithmancy is important since it demonstrates logical thinking. Just over half also require muggle studies. Neither ancient runes or care is place as a must have option but there's a not saying it demonstrates your ability to handle a heavy work load and pressure if you take three subjects."

"What Divinisation?" Seamus asked confused.

"It's not even mentioned in passing. Probably because it's considered an easy subject." Aileen answered.

"Aileen's right, the qualifications for law are similar to that of the more administrative positions of the ministry since they regularly end up working together. Most heads of those departments will scoff in disgust if you tell them you have an O in divination." Percy put in.

"Go so I'll do muggle studies and Arithmancy since they're necessary. And I think I'll try care, but if I don't like it I'll change to runes." Seamus decided.

"What about you Dean, what do you want to do?" Aileen asked.

"Well either art or something to do with history." Dean answered.

"Okay, so there aren't a lot of jobs fitting those descriptions." Aileen frowned, going through the book. "The only think I can find requires runes since it needs you to be precise."

"Okay, so that's one subject. Since I'm muggleborn there is no point in doing muggle studies and I want to do three subjects. So I'll put down divination and care. If I don't like one I'll change to Arithmancy, and if I don't like either I'll change one and drop one." Dean decided.

"That's a very sensible idea. Professor McGonagall except changes and dropping of subjects until the end of the second week. But you can't drop too electives until you finish your OWLs." Percy said proudly.

Hermione refused to take advice from anyone, and signed up for all five electives despite Percy's warning that it wasn't possible. Three was the maximum number of lessons she could attend. However, if she wanted to take all five electives then she could self-study two, such as divination and muggle studies like Bill Weasley did so he could obtain his twelve NEWTs and get into Gringotts without the financial backing to get a masters first.

Aileen put down Care, Ancient Rune and Arithmancy. This meant that the only lesson she shared with Ron, outside of core lessons, would be Care since he had decided to go with Care and Divination (the easy subjects).

Gryffindor's next Quidditch match would be against Hufflepuff. Wood was insisting on team practices every night after dinner, so that Aileen barely had time for anything but Quidditch and homework. However, the trainingsessionswere getting better, or at least drier, and the evening before Saturday's match she went up to her dormitory to drop off her broomstick feeling Gryffindor's chances for the Quidditch cup had never been better; although this did remind her of her concern for Ginny who had started to regain colour in her cheeks but was now acting really skittish and the only time Aileen saw her was at breakfast, dinner and their weekly practise sessions.

When she entered her dorm room, what remained of her happy mood was almost immediately removed; the contents of Aileen's trunk had been thrown everywhere. Her cloak lay ripped on the floor. The bedclothes had been pulled off her four-poster and the draw had been pulled out of her desk, the contents strewn over the mattress.

It was as she stepped carefully into the room that the other girls appeared.

"What happened?" Parvati asked concerned.

"Someone was obviously searching for something that was in my possession." Aileen answered. Drawing her wand she cast a wide spread repairo like she had in the Defence classroom. Her things repaired themselves allowing her to go through everything, putting it all back where it belonged.

"Is there anything missing?"Hermione asked once Aileen had everything back in order.

"Diary." Aileen said one word that had Hermione paling drastically.

"Only a Gryffindor girl could have taken it." Hermione said eyes wide.

"Yes, and I imagine it was probably the same person who tried to get rid of it in the first place." Aileen said confusing the other girls but Hermione understood what she was saying.

They woke the next day to brilliant sunshine and a light, refreshing breeze.

"Perfect Quidditch conditions!" said Wood enthusiastically at the Gryffindor table, loading the team's plates with scrambled eggs. "Aileen, buck up there, you need a decent breakfast."

As she left the Great Hall with Ron and Hermione to go and collect her Quidditch things, another very serious worry was added to Aileen's growing list. She had just set foot on the marble staircase when she heard it yet again.

 _"Kill this time... let me rip... tear..."_

"It's back." Aileen said, her body tightening as though she was prepared to run.

"If you can hear it, why can't we see it?" Ron demanded looking round.

"Oh I'm an idiot. Aileen you're right." Hermione exclaimed before running of.

"Be careful!" Aileen shouted after her, worried because of the voice. If it was a basilisk Hermione didn't stand a chance.

Aileen stood trying to catch the voice again, to pinpoint its location so she could alert the closest teacher without sounding insane. But people were now emerging from the Great Hall behind her, talking loudly, exiting through the front doors on their way to the Quidditch pitch.

"You'd better get moving," said Ron. "It's nearly eleven - the match -"

Aileen raced up to Gryffindor Tower, collected her Nimbus Two Thousand, and joined the large crowd swarming across the grounds, but her mind was still in the castle along with the bodiless voice, and as she pulled on her scarlet robes in the locker room, her only comfort was that everyone was now outside to watch the game.

The teams walked onto the field to tumultuous applause. Oliver Wood took off for a warm-up flight around the goal posts; Madam Hooch released the balls. The Hufflepuffs, who played in canary yellow, were standing in a huddle, having a last-minute discussion of tactics.

Aileen was just mounting her broom when Professor McGonagall came half marching, half running across the pitch, carrying an enormous purple megaphone.

Aileen's heart dropped like a stone and her eyes were immediately scanning the crowd trying to spot who was missing; an impossible takes considering the number of students that attend Hogwarts.

"This match has been cancelled," Professor McGonagall called through the megaphone, addressing the packed stadium. There were boos and shouts. Oliver Wood, looking devastated, landed and ran toward Professor McGonagall without getting off his broomstick.

"But, Professor!" he shouted. "We've got to play - the cup – Gryffindor -"

Professor McGonagall ignored him and continued to shout through her megaphone:

"All students are to make their way back to the House common rooms, where their Heads of Houses will give them further information. As quickly as you can, please!"

Then she lowered the megaphone and beckoned Aileen over to her.

"Potter, I think you'd better come with me..."

Aileen saw Ron detach himself from the complaining crowd; he came running up to them as they set off toward the castle. Professor McGonagall didn't object to his presence. The worry Aileen had started feeling when she left the great hall tripled

"Yes, perhaps you'd better come, too, Weasley..."

Some of the students swarming around them were grumbling about the match being cancelled; others looked worried. Aileen and Ron followed Professor McGonagall back into the school and up the marble staircase.

"This will be a bit of a shock," said Professor McGonagall in a surprisingly gentle voice as they approached the infirmary. "There has been another attack... another double attack."

Aileen's insides did a horrible somersault. Professor McGonagall pushed the door open and she and Ron entered. Madam Pomfrey was bending over a sixth-year female prefect with long, curly hair. Aileen recognized her as the Ravenclaw they'd met while they were polyjuiced as Crabbe and Goyle. And on the bed next to her was—

"Hermione!" Ron groaned.

Hermione lay utterly still, her eyes open and glassy.

"They were found near the library," said Professor McGonagall. "I don't suppose either of you can explain this? It was on the floor next to them..."

She was holding up a small, circular mirror.

"It's so she wouldn't be killed," Aileen said, blinking back tears and reminding herself that Hermione is only petrified. She would be fine, they would be revived come the end of term.

"What do you mean, Miss Potter?" Madam Pomfrey snapped.

"Hermione ran off this morning, to the library. We've been looking for a book to confirm our suspicious, she must had found the right book." Aileen reached out and gently laid her hand on Hermione's forehead like she had Colin. "She must have found her," Aileen nodded to the Ravenclaw, "and told her that they needed to look around corners with the mirror. She knew the beast was roaming the halls." Aileen finished.

"What is the beast Miss Potter?" McGonagall demanded.

"A basilisk." Dumbledore spoke as he strode into the room. He had obviously heard what Aileen said. "The only reason our student's our not dead is down to pure luck." He finished.

"How did Miss Granger know the beast was roaming?" McGonagall asked. Aileen just shook her head.

"Have you figured out how such a beast is able to get around the school without anyone noticing?" Madam Pomfrey asked.

"No." Dumbledore and Aileen answered at the same time.

"I will escort you back to Gryffindor Tower," said Professor McGonagall heavily. "I need to address the students in any case."

That night Aileen pulled out her invisibility cloak and she left the common room with Ron, heading towards Hagrid's , who had wandered the castle at night many times before, had never seen it so crowded after sunset. Teachers, prefects, and ghosts were marching the corridors in pairs, staring around for any unusual activity; all of them using a reflective object to look around corners. Their Invisibility Cloak didn't stop them making any noise, and there was a particularly tense moment when Ron stubbed his toe only yards from the spot where Snape stood standing guard. Thankfully, Snape sneezed at almost exactly the moment Ron swore. It was with relief that they reached the oak front doors and eased them open.

It was a clear, starry night. They hurried toward the lit windows of Hagrid's house and pulled off the cloak only when they were right outside his front door.

Seconds after they had knocked, Hagrid flung it open. They found themselves face-to-face with him aiming a crossbow at them. Fang the boarhound barked loudly behind him.

"Oh," he said, lowering the weapon and staring at them. "What're you two doin'here?"

"Hagrid why were you pointing a crossbow at us? Who are you expecting?"

"I've bin expectin'- doesn'matter - Sit down - I'll make tea-"

He hardly seemed to know what he was doing. He nearly extinguished the fire, spilling water from the kettle on it, and then smashed the teapot with a nervous jerk of his massive hand.

"Are you okay, Hagrid?" said Aileen "Did you hear about Hermione?"

"Oh, I heard, all righ'," said Hagrid, a slight break in his voice.

He kept glancing nervously at the windows. He poured them both large mugs of boiling water (he had forgotten to add tea bags) and was just putting a slab of fruitcake on a plate when there was a loud knock on the door.

Hagrid dropped the fruitcake. Aileen threw the cloak over Ron and quietly ordered him to the corner. Ron look confused for the few seconds Aileen saw his face but did as she ordered since he was aware she regularly had crazy plans that normally worked. And he had seen that look on her face only once before – when they went down the third floor at her confused, seized his crossbow, and flung open his door once more.

"Good evening, Hagrid."

It was Dumbledore. He entered, looking deadly serious, and was followed by a second, very odd-looking man.

The stranger had rumpled grey hair and an anxious expression, and was wearing a strange mixture of clothes: a pinstriped suit, a scarlet tie, a long black cloak, and pointed purple boots. Under his arm he carried a lime-green bowler.

"Aileen what are you doing here?" Dumbledore asked calmly, as though he knew she would be there.

"Talking with my friend." Aileen answered bluntly. Hagrid had gone pale and sweaty. He dropped into one of his chairs and looked from Dumbledore to the bowler-hat man.

Aileen got up and made all four of them tea, Dumbledore smiled in thanks while Hagrid nodded, his worried eyes not leaving the two men.

"Miss Potter, I'm afraid you can't be here for this discussion." The bowler wearing man said.

"So you're going to send me back to the school. A second year student, after curfew, without an escort while students are being attack?" Aileen demanded of the idiotic man. She wasn't about to let herself be talked into leaving when it was very obvious that Hagrid was afraid and needed a friend. Perhaps between her and Dumbledore they would be able to talk the man down from whatever cause of action he had decided on.

"Aileen is right, Cornelius, I will escort her back to the castle once we are finished here." Dumbledore interrupted the man's spluttering.

"Yes, of course, you're right." The man said nervously before addressing Hagrid in clipped tones. "Bad business, Hagrid. Very bad business. Had to come. Four attacks on Muggleborns. Things've gone far enough. Ministry's got to act."

"I never," said Hagrid, looking imploringly at Dumbledore. "You know I never, Professor Dumbledore, sir -"

"I want it understood, Cornelius, that Hagrid has my full confidence," said Dumbledore, frowning at Fudge.

"Look, Albus," said Fudge, uncomfortably. "Hagrid's record's against him. Ministry's got to do something - the school governors have been in touch -"

"Minister," Aileen cut across skilfully. "Are you under the impression that Hagrid is the one to have opened the chamber?" Aileen leaned forward slightly her intense eyes locked on his.

"He was the one who opened it last time, of course the ministry must assume he is also behind it now." Fudge said nervously under Aileen intense stare.

"Hagrid, fifty years ago, when you were expelled, what type of creature where you caught with?"

"It was Aragon, an Acromantula, but he didn't hurt nobody." Hagrid said adamantly after a moment's hesitance. He only responded because Dumbledore had nodded his head encouragingly, catching on to what Aileen was doing and hoping it would work.

"If an Acromantula wished to kill how would they do it?" Aileen asked next, stopping Fudge from saying anything.

"Well they would bit yeah, their venom, depending on the age of course, can either paralyse you, make you dizzy or kill you." He said.

"Can an Acromantula petrify people?" Aileen asked next.

"No. They have no need to, they kill their meat immediately." Hagrid answered.

Aileen then turned her attention back to the minister. "Fifty years ago, the same thing happened as what is happening now. That means the _same_ creature." Aileen stressed the word. "When Hagrid was expelled back then no one did an inquiry into the creature and weather it could kill the girl in the manor she died. And now you have students being petrified, without a mark on their body. The creature doing this is known as a basilisk."

"What Miss Potter is trying to say, Cornelius, it is impossible for Hagrid to be the one attacking the students given the evidence that we have." Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling brightly as he saw the opportunity needed to save his friend.

"He can also give you an alibi for every attack this year." Aileen added.

"Eye," Hagrid agreed, he was relaxing now that he realised Aileen and Dumbledore where not letting him be taken away. "I was at the feast when Mrs Norris was attacked, with Professor Sprout helping her out with some plant seeds when Colin was attacked, with Aileen here when Seamus was attacked-"

"Which the portraits can confirm." Aileen piped up.

"Then I was out at the Quidditch pitch with everybody else when Hermione was attacked." Hagrid finished.

"I would also like to mention that if you want to take Hagrid away you need to have a warrant and, although you may be the minister, you do not have that power." Aileen concluded.

"Was there anything else you wanted?" Dumbledore asked calmly, taking a sip of his tea and winking at Aileen who had also taken a sip of her tea.

Before Fudge could answer, there was another loud rap on the door.

Dumbledore answered it.

Mr. Lucius Malfoy strode into Hagrid's hut, swathed in a long black traveling cloak, smiling a cold and satisfied smile. Fang started to growl but Aileen reached down and gently stroked him behind the ear to calm him.

"Already here, Fudge," he said approvingly. "Good, good..."

"What're you doin'here?" said Hagrid furiously. "Get outta my house!"

"My dear man, please believe me, I have no pleasure at all in being inside your - er - d'you call this a house?" said Lucius Malfoy, sneering as he looked around the small cabin. "I simply called at the school and was told that the headmaster was here."

"And what exactly did you want with me, Lucius?" said Dumbledore. He spoke politely, but a fire was blazing in his blue eyes once again.

"Dreadful thing, Dumbledore," said Malfoy lazily, taking out a long roll of parchment, "but the governors feel it's time for you to step aside. This is an Order of Suspension - you'll find all twelve signatures on it. I'm afraid we feel you're losing your touch. How many attacks have there been now? Two more this afternoon, wasn't it? At this rate, there'll be no Muggle-borns left at Hogwarts, and we all know what an awful loss that would be to the school."

"Oh, now, see here, Lucius," said Fudge, looking alarmed, "Dumbledore suspended - no, no - last thing we want just now."

"The appointment - or suspension - of the headmaster is a matter for the governors, Fudge," said Mr. Malfoy smoothly. "And as Dumbledore has failed to stop these attacks -"

"See here, Malfoy, if Dumbledore can't stop them," said Fudge, whose upper lip was sweating now, "I mean to say, who can?"

"That remains to be seen," said Mr. Malfoy, "But as all twelve of us have voted-"

Hagrid leapt to his feet, his shaggy black head grazing the ceiling. "An'how many did yeh have ter threaten an'blackmail before they agreed, Malfoy, eh?" he roared.

"Dear, dear, you know, that temper of yours will lead you into trouble one of these days, Hagrid," said Mr. Malfoy.

"Headmaster," Aileen spoke up from her spot. "I was reading Hogwarts, A history the other day. Very interesting book, full of all sorts of information. For example, is it not written that the governors must give the headmaster a notice of exactly three weeks and, if the problem is not resolved in that time, only then can they be suspended pending an investigation of the headmaster's actions unless it is the Headmaster's direct actions leading the danger of students or staff?"

Dumbledore chuckled, "I believe that you are quite right, Aileen my dear." Dumbledore locked eyes with Malfoy's cold grey ones. "If the attacks have not stopped in three weeks, and the governors still wish it, I will, of course, step down. However, for now, I must escort Miss Potter back to the castle. I assume you can find your way off grounds?" Dumbledore said addressing Malfoy and Fudge.

"Yes, of cause, sorry to take up your time, Dumbledore." And with that Fudge left followed by Malfoy who had a disgusted sneer on his face.

Summer was creeping over the grounds around the castle;skyand lake alike turned periwinkle blue and flowers large as cabbages burst into bloom in the greenhouses. The headmaster left three weeks later since they had not been able to discover who was responsible but before he left he addressed the entire school.

"It is the will of the board of Governors that I step down from my post as headmaster. While I am gone, Professor McGonagall will take my place. Do not despair, for a solution will be found." Dumbledore's sparkling eyes scanned the faces of the students, most of them showing fear. "And I will only truly have left this school when none here are loyal to me and help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it."

Word count: 7,532

Copied: 1,598

Edited: 02/09/2017


	16. Chapter 16: Descending Edited

Okay, lets start with: I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER. I'm just happily playing in JK's sand box. I DON'T OWN PERCY JACKSON either. I'm only allowed to play on the swing sets (pouts).

So, the next thing on my list of things to put on the top of this story: I've used a lot of the book structure of the first four years. By this I mean Aileen will be face a troll, save a dragon, go down the third floor, be blamed for opening the chamber, reveal her parseltongue abilities in the dueling club, save Ginny and kill the basilisk, and confront Sirius at the end of third year. Aileen will also be entered into the goblet, however she will be complete the tasks completely differently to Harry. If you don't like stories that do this then this isn't the story for you. Although I divert most majorly from the story line after book four, there are points through the first four years were Aileen dose something that Harry would never do because that is the way I've portrayed my character.

And finally, I have heavily edited the first twenty four chapters. You need to re-read the entire story to understand what happens after that point because it all ties together. By heavily edited, I mean nearly 40% of my story has completely been re-written. There is better characterization, more realistic sword skills and a little bit more on the emotional explanation of my character.

* * *

Chapter 16: year two: descending to the chamber

Aileen and Ron had tried to visit Hermione, but visitors were now barred from the hospital wing.

"We're taking no more chances," Madam Pomfrey told them severely through a crack in the infirmary door. "No, I'm sorry, there's every chance the attacker might come back to finish these people off..."

It made no sense to Aileen. The monster wouldn't decide to come back and kill those victims that were already hospitalised. And even if the teacher's wanted to take the extra safety precaution, it would be safer to move the victims to a secure room, which only Madam Pomfrey and a select few teachers new the location of. By blocking of the hospital wing, they are increasing the fear circulating through the students and making it hard for any of the students to seek medical aid.

Now that Dumbledore had been removed, that unconscious sense of safety he provided was gone. Even the Slytherns – who were notorious in their mistrust of authority and particularly Dumbledore – were walking around in slightly larger groups for protection. Every face was tense, fearful and worried about what will happen. What little laughter was to be had was stopped very quickly as though they had been caught laughing at a funeral.

From what she could tell, there was only one person in the school who felt they were immune to the attacks and therefore was completely unaffected by the atmosphere of terror and suspicion. The other purebloods in the castle recognised that they weren't safe because they determined that it was only dumb luck that saw only muggleborns being attacked. However, Draco Malfoy had an overinflated sense of self, blood and his father's power. The true reasons for Malfoy's peacock like walked was revealed by their first potions lesson after Dumbledore left (he wouldn't say anything in the other lessons because it would lead to immediate punishment).

"I always thought Father might be the one who got rid of Dumbledore," he said, not troubling to keep his voice down. "I told you he thinks Dumbledore's the worst headmaster the school's ever had. Maybe we'll get a decent headmaster now. Someone who won't want the Chamber of Secrets closed. McGonagall won't last long, she's only filling in..."

Snape turned away from the class, and Aileen noticed a slight rise in the vain on the side of his head. She wasn't entirely certain, but that was normally a sign that something had annoyed someone. Apparently, Professor Snape didn't want to be the headmaster, that or he disagreed with the way in which Draco was acting. Snape may have been notorious for favouring his snakes, but she didn't doubt that he had a set of internal rules that the Slytherins needed to follow or face the consequences.

After speaking with Hagrid about what exactly happened fifty years ago, Aileen learned that a girl died in the bathroom. This allowed Aileen to come to the conclusion that the girl who died was Myrtle. She and Ron tried to go and see her but escaping their teachers long enough to sneak into a girls' bathroom, especially the one closest to the first attack, was going to be almost impossible.

However, something was soon announcedthat nearly drove the Chamber of Secrets out of the minds of the student body for the first time in weeks. Ten minutes into the class, Professor McGonagall told them that their exams wouldstarton the first of June, one week from today.

"Exams?" howled Seamus Finnigan. "We're still getting exams?"

There was a loud bang behind Aileen as Neville's wand slipped, vanishing one of the legs on his desk. Professor McGonagall restored it with a wave of her own wand, and turned, frowning, to Seamus.

"The whole point of keeping the school open at this time is for you to receive your education," she said sternly. "The exams will therefore take place as usual, and I trust you are all studying hard."

"You do realise that every student and teacher since the second attack has been too scared to think rationally. I imagine that only the seventh years and fifth years would have focused on their exams, and even they would have been struggling. It would be better for everyone psychologically, at the very least, if the school closed while professionals cleared it. Especially now that the creature has been identified." Aileen snapped, furiously. She didn't understand why the teachers weren't considering the safety of the students – of children – first and foremost.

Professor McGonagall frowned even more darkly at her for that, but chose not to comment. Probably remembering the last time Aileen had gotten angry at her and how right she had been in her words. She obviously didn't want Aileen to give her other dressing down, but this time in front of a class of second year students because word would spread quickly to the rest of the students and she would quickly lose their respect.

"Professor Dumbledore's instructions were to keep the school running as normally as possible," she said, her voice tight with anger. "And that, I need hardly point out, means finding out how much you have learned this year."

Ron looked as though he'd just been told he had to go and live in the Forbidden Forest. Aileen didn't blame him, he was still having problems with his wand and only passed the practical part of his lessons by using Aileen's wand which he wouldn't be able to do in an exam since she would need it for her practical.

Three days before their first exam, Professor McGonagall made another announcement at breakfast.

"I have good news," she said, and the Great Hall, instead of falling silent, erupted.

"Dumbledore's coming back!" several people yelled joyfully.

"You've caught the Heir of Slytherin!" squealed a girl at the Ravenclaw table.

"Quidditch matches are back on!" roared Wood excitedly.

"You've finally come to your senses and called Dangerous Creature Control." Aileen muttered bitterly.

When the hubbub had subsided, Professor McGonagall said, "Professor Sprout has informed me that the Mandrakes are ready for cutting at last. Tonight, we will be able to revive those people who have been Petrified. I need hardly remind you all that one of them may well be able to tell us who, or what, attacked them. I am hopeful that this dreadful year will end with our catching the culprit."

There was an explosion of cheering. Ron was looking happier than he'd looked in days.

"It won't matter that we never asked Myrtle, then!" he said to Aileen. "Hermione'll probably have all the answers when they wake her up! Mind you, she'll go crazy when she finds out we've got exams in three days' time. She hasn't studied. It might be kinder to leave her where she is till they're over."

"She'll probably not be able to tell us more than we already now." Aileen disagreed, her lips twitching when she thought about Hermione's reaction.

Just then, Ginny came over and sat down next to Ron. She looked tense and nervous, and Aileen noticed that her hands were twisting in her lap.

"What's up?" said Ron, helping himself to more porridge.

Ginny didn't say anything, but glanced up and down the Gryffindor table with a scared look on her face. Aileen drew her wand and cast a bubble of silence. She had been practising it when she noticed how often they ended up having privet or important conversations in places where they can be overheard.

"Spit it out," said Ron, watching her.

She was rocking backward and forward slightly in her chair, exactly like Dobby did when he was teetering on the edge of revealing forbidden information.

"I've got to tell you something," Ginny mumbled, carefully not looking at Aileen who had been offering to help her all year.

"What is it?" said Aileen softly - if it had taken Ginny an entire year to build up the courage to tell her something, she didn't want to scare her off by saying the wrong thing.

Ginny looked as though she couldn't find the right words.

"What?" said Ron.

Ginny opened her mouth, butno soundcame out. Aileen leaned forward and spoke quietly, despite the fact that only Ginny and Ron could hear her.

"Is it something about the Chamber of Secrets? Have you seen something? Someone acting oddly?"

Ginny drew a deep breath and, at that precise moment, Percy Weasley appeared, looking tired and wan.

"If you've finished eating, I'll take that seat, Ginny. I'm starving, I've only just come off patrol duty."

Ginny jumped up as though her chair had just been electrified, gave Percy a fleeting, frightened look, and scampered away. Percy sat down and grabbed a mug from the centre of the table. The sound bubble popping now that someone had physically crossed the barrier since Aileen wasn't skilled enough to maintain it.

"Percy!" said Ron angrily. "She was just about to tell us something important!"

Halfway through a gulp of tea, Percy choked.

"What sort of thing?" he said, coughing.

"I just asked her if she'd seen anything odd, and she started to say-"

"Oh - that - that's nothing to do with the Chamber of Secrets," said Percy at once, cutting Aileen off.

"Percy, Ginny wasn't going to tell us your secret. If she was she wouldn't have looked scared out of her mind." Aileen snapped. She had been trying to get through to Ginny all year, and the one time she was ready to confide in her Percy goes and scares her of. Aileen doubted Ginny would approach her again.

Lockhart, who had so often assured them that all danger had passed, only to be proved wrong right away, was now wholeheartedly convinced that it was hardly worth thetroubleto see them safely down the corridors. His hair wasn't as sleek as usual; it seemed he had been up most of the night, patrolling the fourth floor (Aileen was surprised he hadn't just retired to his room). Most the students by this point had realised that Lockhart was a fraud and so most people ignored everything that he said. Only the most devoted of his fan-girls still followed him round but even they had started to look uneasy.

"Mark my words," he said, ushering them around a corner. "The first words out of those poor Petrified people's mouths will be 'It was Hagrid ' Frankly, I'm astounded Professor McGonagall thinks all these security measures are necessary."

"I agree, sir," said Aileen, making Ron drop his books in surprise,and a couple of people to turn around to her. They all knew how much she hated Lockhart since she had been actively stopping his authority most of the year.

"Thank you, Aileen" said Lockhart graciously while they waited for a long line of Hufflepuffs to pass. "I mean, we teachers have quite enough to be getting on with, without walking students to classes and standing guard all night..."

"That's right," said Ron, catching on when Aileen gave him a pointed look. "Why don't you leave us here, sir, we've only got one more corridor to go-"

"You know, Weasley, I think I will," said Lockhart. "I really should go and prepare my next class-"

And he hurried off.

"Prepare hisclass," Ron sneered after him. "Gone to curl his hair, more like."

They let the rest of the Gryffindors draw ahead of them, the prefect at the front of the line using a mirror to look around the corners as they had been ordered. Once the students had moved far enough away they turned down a side passage and hurried off toward Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.

"Potter! Weasley! What are you doing?"

Professor McGonagall, and her mouth was the thinnest of thin lines, as she stepped out of a corridor that she was obviously using as a short cut to her classroom.

"We were - we were -" Ron stammered. "We were going to - to go and see-"

"Hermione," said Aileen. Ron and Professor McGonagall both looked at her.

"It's just that, in the non-magical world they believe that people in commas are still about to hear what's going on around them. And Hermione and the others are in a coma like state and I thought that she might like to hear our voices, to know she's not alone and that I'll help her catch up on the work she missed because she is going to freak when she realises that she hasn't been to lessons in a couple of months. And I miss her, she's one of my best friends and I can't just leave her like that in the hospital wing without visiting her."

Professor McGonagall was still staring at her, and for a moment, Aileen thought she was going to explode, but when she spoke, it was in a strangely croaky voice.

"Of course," she said, and Aileen, amazed, saw a tear glistening in her beady eye. "Of course, I realize this has all been hardest on the friends of those who have been... I quite understand. Yes, Potter, of course you may visit Miss Granger. I will inform Professor Binns where you've gone. Tell Madam Pomfrey I have given my permission."

Aileen and Ron walked away, hardly daring to believe that they'd avoided detention. As they turned the corner, they distinctly heard Professor McGonagall blow her nose.

"That," said Ron fervently, "was the best story you've ever come up with."

Despite the use of Hermione as their cover story being a 'stock of brilliance' they now needed to go to the Hospital wing in order to confirm their alibi, because once McGonagall got over the motions of their cover story should no doubt check with Pomfrey that they came. When they knocked at the hospital wing doors – which for the first time in its history was completely closed with the medi-witch/wizard inside declaring an emergency – Madam Pomfrey was very hesitant to let them in. however, because they had Acting Headmistress McGonagall's permission she had no choice but to open the doors for them.

"There's just no point talking to a Petrified person," she said.

Aileen sat on the edge of Hermione's bed while Ron sat in the chair.

"Wonder if she did see the attacker, though?" said Ron, looking sadly at Hermione's rigid face. They now knew – with almost certainty – that the beast was a basilisk even if they couldn't find any written references to the obscure creature in the library. However, they still didn't know who was behind the attacks or how, beyond that they were a parslemouth and probably the heir of Slytherin (or at least of the opinion that they were the heir of Slytheirn). "Because if he sneaked up on them all, no one'll ever know..."

But Aileen wasn't looking at Hermione's face like Ron was doing. She had touched Hermione's right hand and noticed that it was holding something in her clenched fists. Like she had been holding something like her life depended on it. How they hadn't noticed it during their first visit – and how Madam Pomfrey had missed it over the last few months – Aileen didn't know but she blamed her wild emotions during the time they discovered what had happened. It had impacted her ability to think and observe and she made a mental note to work on that because she might have missed vital information the past few months because she just hadn't looked.

Noting wishing to be stopped, or kept out of the loop, Aileen looked around to check that Madam Pomfrey was still occupied elsewhere in the hospital wing and so therefore not paying them any attention. When she was sure they wouldn't be disturbed, she caught Ron's attention and pointed to Hermione's hand and the small amount of parchment they could just make out.

"Go on and get it out," Ron whispered, shifting his chair so that he blocked Aileen from Madam Pomfrey's view encase the matron turned to check on them.

However, taking the parchment from Hermione was no easy task. She had kept such a tight grip on it, that Aileen feared tearing it before she could get it out. It took a lot of tugging and twisting before it at last came free. Carefully smoothing out the rumble pieces of paper Aileen found it was a torn page from what appeared to be a very old library book.

" _The Basilisk, also called the King of Serpents, doesn't stop growing and if not captured or killed within two hundred years of being born are nearly impossible to stop if not for one fatal weakness. The basilisks hide grows more resident to magic as they age, and it has more wondrous ways of killing beyond the use of its fearsome size: its eyes are deadly upon side and research has found no venom as deadly as that of the basilisks. There is no cure to its bite. The only known way to kill a basilisk is with the crowing of the rooster. One knows a basilisk has found itself at home in the lands because spiders will flee before it. It was once assumed that a basilisk was born from a chicken egg, which was hatched beneath a toad, however research has proven this a fallacy. There is no known way to breed or raise a basilisk. They seemed to be a naturally occurring, but rare, beast."_

Aileen read the passage aloud to Ron. Then, looking further down the parchment, Aileen found what was recognisable as Hermione's handwriting when she was in a hurry. It wasn't the normal neat writing of her assignments, rather it was the harried writing of someone who had too much going on in her mind to be able to write fast enough to keep pace.

" _Aileen was right the monster is a basilisk which means there is another parsel-tongue in the school. Be careful, continue looking around the corners with a mirror it is the only way to survive the stare. It can appear anywhere because it is using the pipes. I think it lives under the school."_

"She knew the monster was out in the school because I had heard it. She didn't think she would make it back to us." Aileen whispered softly, blinking back tears. Hermione had thought she was going to be attack, and in her last moments did what she always did – saved them. If she hadn't found Penelope she would have died because Hermione didn't carry a mirror around on her person nor had their transfiguration skills progressed to the point that Hermione would have been able to make one.

"The entrance to the Chamber of Secrets!" Ron said hoarsely. "What if it's a bathroom? What if it's in-"

"Moaning Myrtle's bathroom," Aileen finished for him, the puzzle falling into place. But there was one thing she couldn't get her head around: Voldemort was the hair of Slytherin and the only other Parselmouth in Britain. Who was he controlling to open the Chamber?

"What're we going to do?" said Ron, whose eyes were flashing. "Should we go straight to McGonagall?"

"Let's go to the staff room," said Aileen, jumping up. "She'll be there in ten minutes. It's nearly break."

They ran downstairs. Not wanting to be discovered hanging around in another corridor, they went straight into the deserted staff room. It was a large, panelled room full of dark, wooden chairs. Aileen and Ron paced around it.

But the bell to signal break never came.

Instead, echoing through the corridors came Professor McGonagall's voice, magically magnified.

"All students to return to their House dormitories at once. All teachers return to the staff room. Immediately, please."

"Not another attack? Not now?" Aileen said horrified, she had hoped that they could have stopped the beast before another person got hurt because there was no guarantee that everyone would survive.

"What'll we do?" said Ron, aghast. "Go back to the dormitory?"

"No," said Aileen, glancing around. There was an ugly sort of wardrobe to her left, full of the teachers' cloaks. "In here. Let's hear what it's all about. Then we can tell them what we've found out." Otherwise they might just be ignored in all the commotion that was sure to follow once the teachers had been informed of the emergency.

Grateful for her small size, Aileen was able to squish herself into the cupboard with Ron who was quite tall and broad for his age. If the teachers had left their cloaks in the wardrobe then there was absolutely no way they would have both fit. As it was they were uncomfortably close and Aileen was suppressing her fighting instincts as she tried to focus and listen to what was happening outside their hidey whole.

"It has happened," McGonagall tod the silent staff room as she was the last to arrive. "A student has been taken by the monster. Right into the Chamber itself."

Professor Flitwick let out a squeal. Professor Sprout clapped her hands over her mouth.

Snape gripped the back of a chair very hard and said, "How can you be sure?" ever the voice of reason and logic. Not willing to believe what he has been told without proof especially when it was something said to create fear which pushes logic aside even in the most reasonable of people.

"The Heir of Slytherin," said Professor McGonagall, who was very white, "left another message. Right underneath the first one. _Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever_."

Professor Flitwick burst into tears.

"Who is it?" said Madam Hooch, who had sunk, weak-kneed, into a chair. "Which student?"

"Ginny Weasley," said Professor McGonagall.

Aileen felt Ron slide silently down onto the wardrobe floor beside her. She reached over and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder while she looked at the teachers with narrowed eyes; her mind racing with thoughts and theories about they should do next and people's likely reaction. But one thing she did know, she was going to leave her 'little sister' to her death.

"We shall have to send all the students home tomorrow," said Professor McGonagall. "This is the end of Hogwarts. Dumbledore always said..."

The staffroom door banged open again. It was Lockhart, and he was beaming.

"So sorry - dozed off - what have I missed?"

He didn't seem to notice that the other teachers were looking at him with something remarkably like hatred. Snape stepped forward.

"Just the man," he said, his voice taking on a deadly undertone to it that would have sent any student running at the first syllable. "The very man. A girl has been snatched by the monster, Lockhart. Taken into the Chamber of Secrets itself. Your moment has come at last."

Lockhart blanched.

"That's right, Gilderoy," chipped in Professor Sprout, sweat kind hearted professor Sprout who had been trying to get rid of the idiot all year. "Weren't you saying just last night that you've known all along where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is?"

"I - well, I -"sputtered Lockhart.

"Yes, didn't you tell me you were sure you knew what was inside it?" piped up Professor Flitwick, the teachers rallying together behind this common enemy since they could not face the monster in the Chamber.

"D-did I? I don't recall-"

"I certainly remember you saying you were sorry you hadn't had a crack at the monster before Hagrid was arrested," said Snape. "Didn't you say that the whole affair had been bungled, and that you should have been given a free rein from the first?"

Lockhart stared around at his stony-faced colleagues.

"I - I really never - you may have misunderstood-"

"We'll leave it to you, then, Gilderoy," said Professor McGonagall. "Tonight will be an excellent time to do it. We'll make sure everyone's out of your way. You'll be able to tackle the monster all by youself. A free rein at last."

Lockhart gazed desperately around him, but nobody came to the rescue. He didn't look remotely handsome anymore. His lip was trembling, and in the absence of his usually toothy grin, he looked weak-chinned and feeble.

"V-very well," he said. "I'll - I'll be in my office, getting - getting ready."

And he left the room.

"Right," said Professor McGonagall, whose nostrils were flared, "that's got him out from under our feet. The Heads of Houses should go and inform their students what has happened. Tell them the Hogwarts Express will take them home first thing tomorrow. Will the rest of you please make sure no students have been left outside their dormitories."

The teachers rose and left, one by one.

It was probably the worst day of Aileen's entire life. She, Ron, Fred, and George sat together in a corner of the Gryffindor common room, unable to say anything to each other and offer the comfort each of them surely had dragged Ron back to the common room the moment the staff room had emptied. Because at that moment the family needed to be together. Percy sent an owl to his parents, not wanting the teachers to be the ones to tell them, before he had joined his siblings.

No afternoon ever lasted as long as that one, nor had Gryffindor Tower ever been so crowded, yet so quiet. Near sunset, Fred and George went up to bed, unable to sit there any longer; Percy followed soon after, tears slowly making their way down his face.

"She knew something, Aileen," said Ron, speaking for the first time since they had entered the wardrobe in the staff room. "That's why she was taken. It wasn't some stupid thing about Percy at all. She'd found out something about the Chamber of Secrets. That must be why she was -" Ron rubbed his eyes frantically. "I mean, she was a pure-blood. There can't be any other reason."

Aileen could see the sun sinking, blood-red, below the skyline. Aileen closed her eyes, her face completely blank of emotions. She had been trying to come up with a plan and gather her courage for nearly three hours now. She didn't like going in blind, but she had little information and her little sister needed her.

"Aileen" said Ron. "D'you think there's any chance at all she's not - you know-"

' _Dad, if you're listening, I would just like to let you know I'm sorry. But I can't leave Ginny to such a fate. A Basilisk is a beast that has never been stopped, but I must try. She is like family to me.'_

Aileen snapped her eyes opened and looked at Ron. "We know where the chamber is and I am currently the only pareslmouth in this school. I will not see Ginny dead." Aileen said, standing and moving swiftly to the common room door.

"I think we should go and see Lockhart." Ron said as they were walking down the corridor. "Tell him what we know. He's going to try and get into the Chamber. We can tell him where we think it is, and tell him it's a basilisk in there; if the other teacher's haven't already informed him of what you suspected the beast to be."

Artemis' domain was slowly creeping on them, as Apollo's chariot left the sky and let darkness sweep across he grounds. As they approached Lockhart's office, Aileen's eyes narrowed as she noticed the amount of activity that was coming from it considering the task that the man had been set.

Aileenknocked loudly on the door so she could be heard over the thumping and scrabbling that was coming from the other side. Immediately, silenced decided and after a moment the door opened by barely a crack and they could see Lockhart's eye peeking out at them.

"Oh - Miss. Potter - Mr. Weasley -" he said, opening the door a bit wider. "I'm rather busy at the moment - if you would be quick -"

"Professor, we've got some information for you," said Aileen. "We think it'll help you."

"Er - well - it's not terribly -" The side of Lockhart's face that they could see looked very uncomfortable. "I mean - well - all right-"

He opened the door and they entered.

In the time since Lockhart had left the Staff Room, he had been busy, except he wasn't busy doing the right thing and trying to save Ginny. He was busy packing so he could run away. Aileen looked around the room in disgust: there were two large trunks on the floor before the desk piled high with robes or obscene colours, photographs with Lockhart's face on and more copies of his own work.

"Are you going somewhere?" Aileen asked, her voice hard and her eyes like ice as she looked up at the man. This coward. She was only twelve and yet she was by far braver this this man. Even Ron was braver than this man, and he only had the experience of a sheltered twelve year old until the year before when he sacrificed himself during the chess game.

"Er, well, yes," said Lockhart, ripping a life-size poster of himself from the back of the door as he spoke and starting to roll it up. "Urgent call - unavoidable - got to go -"

"What about my sister?" demanded Ron jerkily,this was the first time he had encounter a man so willing to allowed others injury and he didn't understand why he would just abandon his duty.

"Well, as to that - most unfortunate -" said Lockhart, avoiding their eyes as he wrenched open a drawer and started emptying the contents into a bag. "No one regrets more than I-"

"You're running away?" Aileen interrupted, unwilling to allow him to continue bullshitting when they were running out of time. They had already wasted hours in the common room, thinking, now was the time for action.

"After all that stuff you did in your books-" Ron said disbelievingly.

"Books can be misleading," said Lockhart delicately.

"You wrote them!" Aileen inturrupted, her eyes narrowed.

"My dear girl," said Lockhart, straightening up and frowning at Aileen. "Do use your common sense. My books wouldn't have sold half as well if people didn't think I'd done all those things. No one wants to read about some ugly old Armenian warlock, even if he did save a village from werewolves. He'd look dreadful on the front cover. No dress sense at all. And the witch who banished the Bandon Banshee had a harelip. I mean, come on-"

"So you've just been taking credit for what a load of other people have done?"

She never understood the appeal someone placed on their out appearance. She was just as likely to read a story about how a hag saved a village and how, as she would read a story about how a wizard had done the same feat. She didn't discriminate by looks, gender or species. It wasn't in her nature and she struggled to understand why people put so much emphasis in looks and gender.

"Aileen, Aileen" said Lockhart, shaking his head impatiently, "it's not nearly as simple as that. There was work involved. I had to track these people down. Ask them exactly how they managed to do what they did. Then I had to put a Memory Charm on them so they wouldn't remember doing it. If there's one thing I pride myself on, it's my Memory Charms. No, it's been a lot of work, Aileen. It's not all book signings and publicity photos, you know. You want fame, you have to be prepared for a long hard slog."

He banged the lids of his trunks shut and locked them.

"Let's see," he said. "I think that's everything. Yes. Only one thing left."

He pulled out his wand and turned to them.

"Awfully sorry, chaps, but I'll have to put a Memory Charm on you now. Can't have you blabbing my secrets all over the place. I'd never sell another book-"

Lockhart had barely raised hiswand when Aileen - completely furious - drew hers and called: "Expelliarmus!" with more force then was strictly necessary.

Lockhart was blasted backward, falling over his trunk; his wand flew high into the air; Ron caught it, and flung it out of the open window so there wasn't a chance of the man arming himself again.

"Shouldn't have let Professor Snape teach us that one," said Aileen furiously, kicking Lockhart's trunk aside and not mentioning the fact that Snape hadn't taught them the spell – he had simply demonstrated its use. Lockhart was looking up at her, feeble once more. Aileen was still pointing her wand at him.

"What d'you want me to do?" said Lockhart weakly. "I don't know where the Chamber of Secrets is. There's nothing I can do."

"You're in luck," said Aileen, forcing Lockhart to his feet at wand point. "We think we know where it is. And what's inside it. Let's go."

They marched Lockhart out of his office and down the nearest stairs, along the dark corridor where the messages shone on the wall, to the door of Myrtle's bathroom.

They sent Lockhart in first.

Myrtle was sitting on the tank of the end toilet.

"Oh, it's you," she said when she saw Aileen. "What do you want this time?"

"To ask you how you died," saidAileenher tone softening now she wasn't talking with the ponce. She hadn't considered asking the girl how she died before, but perhaps if she had done they would have had their answers earlier. She also made a mental note to speak with the other ghosts, and not just about how they died. They were a fountain of historical information, regarding not only Hogwarts, but Britain.

Myrtle's whole aspect changed at once. She looked as though she had never been asked such a flattering question. "Ooooh, it was dreadful," she said with relish. "It happened right in here. I died in this very stall. I remember it so well. I'd hidden because Olive Hornby was teasing me about my glasses. The door was locked, and I was crying, and then I heard somebody come in. They said something funny. A different language, I think it must have been. Anyway, what really got me was that it was a boy speaking. So I unlocked the door, to tell him to go away and use his own toilet, and then -" Myrtle swelled importantly, her face shining. "I died."

"How?" said Ron.

"No idea," said Myrtle in hushed tones. "I just remember seeing a pair of great, big, yellow eyes. My whole body sort of seized up, and then I was floating away... And then I came back again. I was determined to haunt Olive Hornby, you see. Oh, she was sorry she'd ever laughed at my glasses."

"Where exactly did you see the eyes?" said Aileen.

"Somewhere there," said Myrtle, pointing vaguely toward the sink in front of her toilet.

Aileen and Ron hurried over to it. Lockhart was standing well back, a look of utter terror on his face.

It looked like an ordinary sink. They examined every inch of it, inside and out, including the pipes below. And then Aileen saw it: Scratched on the side of one of the copper taps was a tiny snake.

"That tap's never worked," said Myrtle brightly as she tried to turn it.

Aileen closed her eyes, picturing an image of a snake in her head then she opened her eyes and hissed one word _: "Open,"_

At once the tap glowed with a brilliant white light and began to spin. Next second, the sink began to move and sink below the overflow gratings. Once everything had stopped moving it revealed a large pip which was wide enough for a fully grown man to slide into.

"I'm going down there," Aileen told Ron simply, looking up to her friend's pale face. His eyes were wide in fear as he stared down the dark whole.

She wasn't going to leave Ginny down in the chamber, not when there was still a chance that the girl might be alive. She had started viewing her as family over the cause of the year, and Aileen refused to leave her family behind. Even if Ginny had perished, she could still stop the beast and whoever was doing this, and bring back Ginny's body. The Weasley would deserve closure if they weren't in time.

"Me too," Ron said determinedly, straightening out and trying to push past his fear.

There was a pause.

"Well, you hardly seem to need me," said Lockhart, with a shadow of his old smile. "I'll just -"

He put his hand on the door knob, but Ron and Aileen both pointed their wands at him.

"You can go first," Ron snarled.

White-faced and wandless, Lockhart approached the opening.

"Chaps," he said, his voice feeble. "Chaps, what good will it do?"

"You can clean the path," Aileen said, pushing the man before he could protest any further. He slid out of sight. Aileen followed quickly. She lowered herself into the pipe, then let go.

It was like rushing down an endless, slimy, dark slide. She could see more pipes branching off in all directions, but none as large as theirs, which twisted and turned, sloping steeply downward, and she knew that she was falling deeper below the school than even the dungeons. Behind her she could hear Ron, thudding slightly at the curves.

And then, just as she had begun to worry about what would happen when she hit the ground, the pipe levelled out, and she shot out of the end; Aileen rolled upon landing and came to rest in a crouch on the damp floor of a dark stone tunnel large enough to stand in. Lockhart was getting to his feet a little ways away, covered in slime and white as a ghost. Aileen straightened as Ron came whizzing out of the pipe, too.

"We must be miles under the school," Aileen observed, taking in the damp walls, the crunch of skeletons of small rodents on the floor and the smell. "Lumos." Aileen cast, allowing her to see the cavern they were in. All three of them were covered in the slime from both the pip and the landing. There were wall brackets on the walls, were torches used to be lit.

"Under the lake, probably," Ron agreed, not risking lighting his own wand.

"I think the torches were meant to light when someone entered the tunnel." Aileen theorised, taking in the runes that were carved to the wall brackets, but some of them had faded in the time since they were carved.

"Well I'm glad they don't work, I don't want to see how creepy this place actually is." Ron informed her, looking suspiciously down the only tunnel.

"We need to get going." Aileen told them, holding her light up high and carefully moving down the tunnel. Without any other light source, Aileen's wand casts shadow's across the walls that looked rather ominous and her light didn't have a lot of rang. Only the relative thinness of the tunnel allowed the light to be projected forward a few feet of the damp walls.

"Remember," Aileen said quietly as they walked cautiously forward, "any sign of movement, close your eyes right away..."

But the tunnel was quiet as the grave, and the first unexpected sound they heard was a loud crunch as Ron stepped on what turned out to be a rat's skull. Aileen lowered her wand to look at the floor and saw that it was littered with animal bones. Unlike the cavern they had first entered, these bones had marks on them and were bigger and just rats. There were chicken, rabbit and even what looked like a cow. These were bones of what the poor creatures the basilisk had feasted on, which meant at some people someone had been leaving food for the basilisk but didn't return to then clean up the mess. No wonder the basilisk had hissed about being hungry, if it hadn't been fed since this bony grave was made.

"Aileen - there's something up there -" said Ron hoarsely, grabbing Aileen's shoulder after a few more minutes of walking over animal bones.

They froze, watching. Aileen could just see the outline of something huge and curved, lying right across the tunnel. It wasn't moving.

Aileen glanced back at the other two. Lockhart's hands were pressed over his eyes. Aileen turned back to look at the thing, her heart beating so fast it hurt.

Very slowly, her eyes as narrow as she could make them and still see, Aileen edged forward, her wand held high to provide as much light as possible.

The light slid over a gigantic snake skin, of a vivid, poisonous green, lying curled and empty across the tunnel floor. Aileen swallowed thickly. There was dust over the skin, meaning that the skin hadn't been shed recently and basilisks didn't stop growing. So, if it was around twenty feet when it shed this skin – and she assumed that this was around the same time it was still being fed judging by its placement – then the basilisk was at least thirty to fourth feet long now. Possible longer since she didn't know when it had shed this skin, nor was it confirmed the rate at which a basilisk grew – as especially one as old as this was because a basilisk had never survived passed five hundred years without being killed.

"Blimey," said Ron weakly.

There was a sudden movement behind them. Gilderoy Lockhart's knees had given way.

"Get up," said Ron sharply, pointing his wand at Lockhart.

Lockhart got to his feet - then he dived at Ron, knocking him to the ground.

Aileen jumped forward, but too late - Lockhart was straightening up, panting, Ron's wand in his hand and a gleaming smile back on his face.

"The adventure ends here, chaps!" he said. "I shall take a bit of this skin back up to the school, tell them I was too late to save the girl, and that you two tragically lost your minds at the sight of her mangled body - say good-bye to your memories!"

He raised Ron's Spellotaped wand high over his head and yelled, "Obliviate!"

The wand exploded with the force of a small bomb. Aileen dived out of the way, towards the basilisk skin, as parts of the ceiling rained down on them. Once the dust had settled and the ceiling stop falling, Aileen lifted her head from where she had hidden it under her hand to protect it. Her want had gone out when she lost concentration, so she relight it. She was sat, alone, with a wall of rock between her and were the other two had stood.

"Ron!" Aileen shouted, scrambling to her feet and wincing as she felt the cuts and scrapes on her arms and legs from where she had landed. "Are you okay? Ron!"

"I'm here!" came Ron's muffled voice from behind the rock fall. "I'm okay - this git's not, though - he got blasted by the wand -"

There was a dull thud and a loud "ow!" It sounded as though Ron had just kicked Lockhart in the shins.

"What now?" Ron's voice said, sounding desperate. "We can't get through - it'll take ages..."

Aileenlooked up at the tunnel ceiling. Huge cracks had appeared in had never tried to break apart anything as large as these rocks with magic, and now didn't seem a good moment to try - what if the whole tunnel caved in?

There was another thud and another "ow!" from behind the rocks. They were wasting time. Ginny had already been in the Chamber of Secrets for hours... Aileen knew there was only one thing to do.

"Wait there," she called to Ron. "Wait with Lockhart. See if you can't shift some of the rocks. Start to one side, with the smaller rocks so the bigger rocks remain to stabilise the ceiling. We'll need a way out when I get Ginny. But Ron… If I'm not back in an hour..."

There was a very pregnant pause, "Okay, I'll do what I can." Ron promised, his voice coming out rather unsteady. "Aileen…."

"I'll be back," Aileen promised, somehow managing to keep her voice steady as she turned and set off alone past the giant snake skin. She felt bad for Ron, he wouldn't know what was happening, and he was trapped – separated from her and his sister – with nothing but his worry to occupy him. And he didn't have any light either, he would be doing most of his work through the feel of the rocks.

With only the light of her wand and no company, the fear was slowly trying to creep up on her. She knew what monster she would be facing at the end of the tunnel, far worse and far more deadly than anything else she had ever faced. And she would be doing it alone. With the life of her friend on the line. And she still didn't even know who Slytherins heir was or how skilled a fighter they were. The odds had never been so against her.

The sound of Ron trying to shift the rocks had long since faded by the time she came to a circle door. Just like on the tap, there was an engraving of a serpent, however this time it was entwined with another and their gemmed eyes appeared to be watching her as she slowly approach. She didn't want to trigger any traps that Slytherin or his descended put in place to prevent those of his blood line from entering the chamber because she had the horrible feeling that the serpents would come alive.

" _Open_ ," said Aileen, in a low, faint hiss.

The serpents parted as the door cracked open, the halves slid smoothly out of , Aileen stepped through the door. The chamber on the other side would have been very impressive if she wasn't so scared and it was lit more brightly to ride the corners of their shadows. The torches along the walls were didn't seem to have eroded, because they were being with a green flame that provided an eerie light that allowed Aileen to put out her own wand.

Lining the chamber were large serpent statues that appeared to reach up to the ceiling to hold it in place. The carving was very detailed, and Aileen wouldn't be surprised if they were covered in runes and other protections because they didn't seem to have suffered the passage of time. In fact, nothing in the chamber seemed to have suffered from the passage of time. There was no dust, no erosion, nothing to indicate that the chamber was a thousand years old.

Keeping her wand out because her sword and dagger would do her no good until she knew more about what she was facing, Aileen slowly began edging forward. She was the only one who knew she had extra weapons on her person (no one other than Dumbledore knew she carried the dagger all the time even if the students were aware she owned a dagger), so if she were to lose her wand in the fight that she knew was to come she would have back up weapons to defend herself with. Aileen cautiouslymoved forward. Every careful footstep echoed loudly off the shadowy walls. She kept her eyes narrowed, ready to clamp them shut at the smallest sign of movement.

At last she drew level with the final pillar to reveal what appeared to be the centre of the chamber. The design reminded her of the Egyptian temples which had a long hallway lined with pillars leading to the main room. The area was wide, open and facing a back wall that had the centre piece of the chamber. Carved from the stone was a proud man with sharp, pointed features that were softened by a stylishly cut goatee. At least ten feet tall, he was a very imposing figure, and a man Aileen was sure everyone knew the name of: Salazar Slytherin.

Lying between Slytherin's feet, was a small figure with flaming-red hair. Aileen couldn't see her face because she was lying on her front, but Ginny wasn't moving. Aileen sprinted the remaining distance between her and the young girl, and dropped to her knees. Needing to use her hands, Aileen slipped her want back into its holster – ready to be drawn at any moment but not impending her movements.

Gently grabbing Ginny's shoulders, and supporting her neck encase of damage, Aileen gentle turned her around. Her face was stark white, as though she was suffering from severe blood lose. Her skin was cold to touch, but her eyes were close and her body's limp instead of stiff. She hadn't been petrified. Aileen felt for a pulse and was relieved to feel one, no matter how week it may be.

"She won't wake," said a soft voice.

Aileen spun around on her knees,her wand falling into her hand and pointing it at the source of the voice in under a second. Too many years of fighting for her life meant that she reacted immediately and instinctively when faced with dangerous situations. Ginny was laying behind her, protected from anything this intruder may try, but it meant that she wouldn't be able to dodge and she didn't know many spells to shield with.

The person who had interrupted her was tall, even though he appeared young enough to still be in his teens. His black hair was carefully styled, and his Slytherin robes immaculate. Despite leaning calmly back against a pillar, he was blurred around the edges like a ghost but with colour. There was no mistaking this figure.

"Tom Riddle." Aileen greeted calmly, her fighting instincts were kicking in and the fear she had been consumed by only moments before was starting to fade to the back of her mind. It was still there but she was calm now, focused on solving the problem. "What are you?" Aileen asked, her entire being shouted at her that he was wrong. That he was unnatural, against the gods.

"A memory," said Riddle quietly. "Preserved in a diary for fifty years."

He pointed toward the floor near the statue's giant toes. Lying open there was the little black diary Aileen had found in Myrtle's bathroom.

"Why have you come here?" Aileen demanded to know, her wand not lowering, showing her distrust to his boy.

"I've waited a long time for this, Aileen Potter," said Riddle, choosing not to answer to answer her. "For the chance to see you. To speak to you."

"How did Ginny get like this?" Aileen asked, trying to think of a way of helping. Ginny's body held no visible wounds so she didn't know what to do. If she could find out what happened, she could cure Ginny or at least get her out of dangers way so that she could face the problem of Riddle and the Basilisk.

"Well, that's an interesting question," said Riddle pleasantly. "And quite a long story. I suppose the real reason Ginny Weasley's like this is because she opened her heart and spilled all her secrets to an invisible stranger."

"Your diary," Aileen took a guess, if this spirit was linked to the memory then it would make sense that he was somehow using the diary to open the chamber.

"Indeed the diary," said Riddle. "My diary. Little Ginny's beenwritingin it for months and months, telling me all her pitiful worries and woes - how her brothers tease her, how she had to come to school with second hand robes and books, how -" Riddle's eyes glinted "- how she didn't think she could live up to the expectations of the famous, good, great Aileen Potter..."

All the time he spoke, Riddle's eyes never left Aileen's face. There was an almost hungry look in them.

"It's very boring, having to listen to the silly little troubles of an eleven-year-old girl," he went on. "But I was patient. I wrote back. I was sympathetic, I was kind. Ginny simply loved me. _No one's ever understood me like you, Tom... I'm so glad I've got this diary to confide in... It's like having a friend I can carry around in my pocket_..."

Riddle laughed, a high, cold laugh that didn't suit him. It made the hairs stand up on the back of Aileen's neck.

"If I say it myself, Aileen, I've always been able to charm the people I needed. So Ginny poured out her soul to me, and her soul happened to be exactly what I wanted... I grew stronger and stronger on a diet of her deepest fears, her darkest secrets. I grew powerful, far more powerful than little Miss Weasley. Powerful enough tostartfeeding Miss Weasley a few of my secrets, to start pouring a little of my soul back into her..."

"You possessed her." Aileen hissed, horrified.

Riddle just laughed. "It was Ginny Weasley who opened the Chamber of Secrets. She strangled the school roosters and daubed threatening messages on the walls. She set the Serpent of Slytherin on four Mudbloods, and the Squib's cat."

"You bastered, she's just a child." Aileen snapped, not bothering to filter her words like she normally would. She knew a fight was coming, the angrier she can make Riddle the greater the chance she had of wining. Riddle was four years older than her, had obviously delved into the dark arts and was also in control of Slytheirn's beast. All she had was her brains, two years of magical training, and her experience in fighting unintelligent monsters.

"It took a very long time for stupid little Ginny to stop trusting her diary," said Riddle. "But she finally became suspicious and tried to dispose of it. And that's where you came in, Aileen. You found it, and I couldn't have been more delighted. Oh you were clever, you didn't give your name and I couldn't make a connection. But Ginny had already told of that little nickname of yours – Raven. How very quaint. But I was glad I got the chance to speak with you… you who I was most anxious to meet."

"And why did you want to meet me?" said Aileen. She was missing something obvious.

"Well, you see, Ginny told me all about you, Aileen," said Riddle. "Your whole fascinating history." His eyes roved over the lightning scar on Aileen's forehead, and his expression grew hungrier. "I knew I must find out more about you, talk to you, meet you if I could. So I decided to show you my famous capture of that great oaf, Hagrid, to gain your trust -"

"And all it did was make me distrust you. Why do you think I never wrote in the diary again?" Aileen demanded.

Riddle laughed his high laugh again.

"I admit, even I was surprised how well the plan worked. I thought someone must realize that Hagrid couldn't possibly be the Heir of Slytherin. It had taken me five whole years to find out everything I could about the Chamber of Secrets and discover the secret entrance... as though Hagrid had the brains, or the power! Only the Transfiguration teacher, Dumbledore, seemed to think Hagrid was innocent. He persuaded Dippetto keep Hagrid and train him as gamekeeper. Yes, I think Dumbledore might have guessed... Dumbledore never seemed to like me as much as the other teachers did ..."

"And Dumbledore didn't believe you. He knew you were up to something, that you were involved somehow. That Hagrid wasn't the one to open the chamber."

"Well, he certainly kept an annoyingly close watch on me after Hagrid was expelled," said Riddle carelessly. "I knew it wouldn't be safe to open the Chamber again while I was still at school. But I wasn't going to waste those long years I'd spent searching for it. I decided to leave behind a diary, preserving my sixteen-year-old self in its pages, so that one day, with luck, I would be able to lead another in my footsteps, and finish Salazar Slytherin's noble work."

"Well, you haven't finished it; no one's died this time, not even the cat. In a few hours the Mandrake Draught will be ready and everyone who was Petrified will be all right again -"

"Haven't I already told you," said Riddle quietly, "that killing Mudbloods doesn't matter to me anymore? For many months now, my new target has been - you."

Aileen frowned at the other. His laugh was the same as when he killed her mother, despite the fact that this form was not the monster twisted by dark magic that committed the deed. Tom Marvolo Riddle an acronym for 'I am Lord Voldemort'. It seemed Voldemort had been turning to the dark, long before he grew to the heights he was known for.

"Imagine how angry I was when the next time my diary was opened, it was Ginny who was writing to me, not you. She saw you with the diary, you see, and panicked. What if you found out how to work it, and I repeated all her secrets to you? What if, even worse, I told you who'd been strangling roosters? So the foolish little brat waited until your dormitory was deserted and stole it back. But I knew what I must do. It was clear to me that you were on the trail of Slytherin's heir. From everything Ginny had told me about you, I knew you would go to any lengths to solve the mystery - particularly if one of your best friends was attacked. And Ginny had told me the whole school was buzzing because you could speak Parseltongue...

"So I made Ginny write her own farewell on the wall and come down here to wait. She struggled and cried and became very boring. But there isn't much life left in her... She put too much into the diary, into me. Enough to let me leave its pages at last... I have been waiting for you to appear since we arrived here. I knew you'd come. I have many questions for you, Aileen Potter."

"Like what? Aileen asked.

"Well," said Riddle, smiling pleasantly, "how is it that you - a skinny girl with no extraordinary magical talent - managed to defeat the greatest wizard of all time? How did you escape with nothing but a scar, while Lord Voldemort's powers were destroyed?"

There was an odd red gleam in his hungry eyes now.

"Why would I tell you that, Voldemort?" Aileen demanded, causing the other to laugh coldly once more.

"Oh very good you figured it out. Voldemort was a name I was already using at Hogwarts, to my most intimate friends only, of course. You think I was going to use my filthy Muggle father's name forever? I, in whose veins runs the blood of Salazar Slytherin himself, through my mother's side? I, keep the name of a foul, common Muggle, who abandoned me even before I was born, just because he found out his wife was a witch? No, Aileen - I fashioned myself a new name, a name I knew wizards everywhere would one day fear to speak, when I had become the greatest sorcerer in the world!"

Aileen knew she didn't have much time – Ginny was fading. Aileen stood, her wand still not wavering from its position pointing at Tom. And she started moving away from the prone girl. If she was to fight, she wasn't going to put Ginny in any more danger then she was already in.

"You're not," she said, her quiet voice full of hatred.

"Not what?" snapped Riddle.

"Not the greatest sorcerer in the world," said Aileen, still moving away from Ginny. "That title was taken long before you became Voldemort. Albus Dumbledore is stronger, wiser and better than you. Even at the height of your power, you never dared to attack the school. He frightens you still, even now, wherever you're hiding."

The smile had gone from Riddle's face, to be replaced by a very ugly look.

"Dumbledore's been driven out of this castle by the mere memory of me!" he hissed.

"He's not as gone as you might think!" Aileen responded sharply, not really thinking about what she was saying. Riddle was ready to change words for wands, and that's what she needed. This was a fight that couldn't be won with words.

Riddle opened his mouth, but froze.

Music was coming from somewhere. Riddle whirled around to stare down the empty Chamber. The music was growing louder. It was eerie, spine-tingling, unearthly; it lifted the hair on Aileen's scalp and made her heart feel as though it was swelling to twice its normal size. Then, as the music reached such a pitch that Aileen felt it vibrating inside her own ribs, flames erupted at the top of the nearest pillar.

A crimson bird the size of a swan had appeared, piping its weird music to the vaulted ceiling. It had a glittering golden tail as long as a peacock's and gleaming golden talons, which were gripping a ragged bundle.

A second later, the bird was flying straight at Aileen. It dropped the ragged thing it was carrying in Aileen's hand, then landed heavily on her shoulder. As it folded its great wings, Aileen looked up and saw it had a long, sharp golden beak and a beady black eye.

The bird stopped singing. It sat still and warm next to Aileen's cheek, gazing steadily at Riddle.

"That's a phoenix." said Riddle, staring shrewdly back at it.

"Fawkes?" Aileen breathed, and she felt the bird's golden claws squeeze her shoulder gently in acknowledgement.

"And that -" said Riddle, now eyeing the ragged thing that Fawkes had dropped, "that's the old school Sorting Hat-"

So it was. Patched, frayed, and dirty, the hat lay motionless in her hand.

Riddle began to laugh again. He laughed so hard that the dark chamber rang with it, as though ten Riddles were laughing at once.

"This is what Dumbledore sends his defender! A songbird and an old hat! Do you feel brave, Aileen Potter? Do you feel safe now?"

"Yes." Aileen answered calmly,she was no longer alone,and she had a goal: protect Ginny. Suddenly, the disadvantage she was at didn't seem so large. With Fawkes song still reverberating in her heart, she felt brave and strong. She wasn't going to lose this fight, not now.

"To business, Aileen," said Riddle, still smiling broadly. "Twice - in your past, in my future - we have met. And twice I failed to kill you. How did you survive? Tell me everything. The longer you talk," he added softly, "the longer you stay alive."

"What happened the first time you attacked me is a mystery, no one knows how you lost your power. But I know how I survived. You underestimated my mother, my common muggle born mother. She saved my life that night." Aileen taunted, a plan forming in her mind as she took in her surroundings once again to see how they could help her. "When you came for me last year, you were weak. Using another's life just to cling to this world. And you fled when I killed your host. And now, you're in hiding."

Riddle's face contorted. Then he forced it into an awful smile, trying to act like Aileen's words hadn't affect him. But his eyes burned with hate. "So… Your mother died to save you. Yes, that's a powerful countercharm. I can see now... there is nothing special about you, after all. I wondered, you see. There are strange likenesses between us, after all. Even you must have noticed. Both half-bloods, orphans, raised by Muggles. Probably the only two Parselmouths to come to Hogwarts since the great Slytherin himself. But after all, it was merely a lucky chance that saved you from me. That's all I wanted to know." Riddle's twisted smile widened. "Now, Aileen, I'm going to teach you a little lesson. Let's match the powers of Lord Voldemort, Heir of Salazar Slytherin, against famous Aileen Potter, and the best weapons Dumbledore can give her..."

He cast an amused eye over Fawkes and the Sorting Hat, then walked away. Riddle stop between the high pillars and look up into the stone face of Slytherin, high above him in the half-darkness. Riddle opened his mouth wide and hissed - but Aileen understood what he was saying...

 _"Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four."_

Word count: 10814

Copied: 5,276

Edited: 05/09/2017


	17. Chapter 17: The Fight Edited

Okay, lets start with: I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER. I'm just happily playing in JK's sand box. I DON'T OWN PERCY JACKSON either. I'm only allowed to play on the swing sets (pouts).

So, the next thing on my list of things to put on the top of this story: I've used a lot of the book structure of the first four years. By this I mean Aileen will be face a troll, save a dragon, go down the third floor, be blamed for opening the chamber, reveal her parseltongue abilities in the dueling club, save Ginny and kill the basilisk, and confront Sirius at the end of third year. Aileen will also be entered into the goblet, however she will be complete the tasks completely differently to Harry. If you don't like stories that do this then this isn't the story for you. Although I divert most majorly from the story line after book four, there are points through the first four years were Aileen dose something that Harry would never do because that is the way I've portrayed my character.

And finally, I have heavily edited the first twenty four chapters. You need to re-read the entire story to understand what happens after that point because it all ties together. By heavily edited, I mean nearly 40% of my story has completely been re-written. There is better characterization, more realistic sword skills and a little bit more on the emotional explanation of my character.

* * *

Chapter 17: year two: The Fight

High above the ground, the stone mouth started moving. It opened wider and wider to reveal a door, standing hundreds of meters above the ground. There was only one creature that would be able to stretch the distance between the door and the floor – the basilisk has been awoken.

Aileen closed her eyes as Fawkes used her shoulder to push himself into the air, where he then took flight.

Aileen focused on the water around her – it lined the walls, around the pillars. At one point Aileen believed that it was probably connected to the water from the mountains, but time had corroded the passage and now the water remained stagnate. Aileen felt a tug in her stomach as the water rose to her command. A large portion of it surged to Ginny, surrounding her in a protective bubble, the water spinning like small tornados. She would be safe from the snake for now. The rest of the water made a wall behind her waiting for her command. Aileen put away her wand – the scales of the basilisk were too strong for her magic to penetrate and Riddle would stay out of the fight for now.

Something huge hit the stone floor of the Chamber. Aileenfelt it shudder- she knew what was happening, she could sense itthrough her connection with the water itself. In her minds eyes she pictured the giant serpent uncoiling itself from Slytherin's mouth. Then she heard Riddle's hissing voice:

" _Kill_ _her_ _."_

Much to Aileen's amusement there was a hint of hesitation, he did not know what to make of the water that answered her command. There were tales written in old books of the elementals who could control earth, wind, fire and water. These tales were the closest he had probably ever come to seeing what she was doing.

The basilisk was moving toward Aileen; she could hear its heavy body slithering across the dusty floor. Eyes still tightly shut, Aileen began to move back down the chamber, the water acting as her eyes - Riddlewas laughing in amusement, believing her to be retreating without a plan or hope.

The serpent was barely feet from her, she could hear it coming.

There was a loud, explosive spitting sound right above her, and then something heavy hit Aileen so hard that she was sent flying across the chamber – the water surged and caught her before she could impact with the wall but Aileen felt her ribs break from the she heard madder hissing, something thrashing wildly off the pillars.

' _It's safe, open your eyes,'_ her dad's worried voice spoke inside her mind. Aileen did as he said, mildly comforted that he heard her prayer and was now watching over her as she faced her most deadly enemy yet.

The enormous serpent, bright, poisonous green, thick as an oak trunk, had raised itself high in the air and its great blunt head was weaving drunkenly between the pillars. Aileen saw what had distracted the snake.

Fawkes was soaring around its head, and the basilisk was snapping furiously at him with fangs long and thin as sabers Fawkes dived. His long golden beak sank out of sight and a sudden shower of dark blood spattered the floor. The snake's tail thrashed, narrowly missing Aileen who used the water to pull herself out of the way fast enough not wishing to be hit for a second time that day. It turned - Aileen looked straight into its face and saw that its eyes, both its great, bulbous yellow eyes, had been punctured by the phoenix; blood was streaming to the floor, and the snake was spitting in agony.

"NO!" Aileen heard Riddle screaming. "LEAVE THE BIRD! LEAVE THE BIRD! THE GIRL IS BEHIND YOU. YOU CAN STILL SMELL HER. KILL HER!

Aileen dropped her control of the water – only maintaining the shield around Ginny. With the shield around Ginny, she didn't yet have the control necessary to use the water as a weapon. Using it to aid her movement and as her eyes was one thing, but to physical turn it into a weapon was another.

"FAWKS, you've done enough." She called not wanting the phoenix to be hurt.

Aileen ducked, jumped and rolled, dodging the snake's blind lunges for her. And she put her hand inside the sorting hat – she didn't know why but she felt like it was the right thing to do. Her hand grasped the hilt of a sword that she pulled from the hat, letting the hat go and jumping the Basilisk's tail at the same time.

The sword was a gleaming silver and the hilt had glittering rubies the size of eggs impeded in the sword was perfectly balanced in her hand and she didn't know why but she had the feeling that this sword could harm the basilisk unlike the celestial steal of her own sword.

A plan formed in her mind and Aileen lunched for the statue at the front of the room and began climbing. The basilisk continued trying to kill her; its mouth stretching wide, wide enough to swallow her whole, lined with fangs long as her sword, thin, glittering, and venomous as it smashed into the status repeatedly. Rock crumbled down on Aileen and several times she was forced to leap to another part of the statue when the snake's aim landed true.

Finally Aileen made it to the statue's head, fifty feet in the air. She stopped climbing and turned to face the snake, planting her feet solidly and adjusting the grip on her sword. The basilisk lunged again, and this time its aim was true - Aileen threw her whole weight behind the sword and drove it to the hilt into the roof of the serpent's mouth.

But as warm blood drenched Aileen's arms, she felt a searing pain just above her elbow. One long, poisonous fang was sinking deeper and deeper into her arm and it splintered as the basilisk keeled over sideways and fell, twitching, to the floor. The snake's great tail smashed into the statue sending Aileen falling to the ground. Aileen hit hard, her leg breaking on impact despite the fact that she managed to role – she had been too high to land without damage.

Aileen gripped the fang that was spreading poison through her body and wrenched it out of her arm. But she knew it was too late. White-hot pain was spreading slowly and steadily from the wound. Even as she dropped the fang and watched her own blood soaking her robes, her vision went foggy and she lost control of the protective bubble around Ginny who lay only a few feet to her left. Not even the water that pooled around her stopped the Chamberfrom dissolving in a whirl of dull colour.

A patch of scarlet swam past, and Aileen heard a soft clatter of claws beside her

"Fawkes," said Aileen thickly. "You were fantastic, Fawkes..."

She felt the bird lay its beautiful head on the spot where the serpent's fang had pierced her.

She could hear echoing footsteps and then a dark shadow moved in front of her.

"You're dead, Aileen Potter," said Riddle's voice above him. "Dead. Even Dumbledore's bird knows it. Do you see what he's doing, Potter? He's crying."

Aileen blinked. Fawke's head slid in and out of focus. Thick, pearly tears were trickling down the glossy feathers.

"I'm going to sit here and watch you die, Aileen Potter. Take your time. I'm in no hurry."

Aileen felt drowsy. Everything around her seemed to be spinning. She had failed – the basilisk was dead but she had failed. She hadn't managed to stop Tom. To save Ginny. And now, she was dying.

"So ends the famous Aileen Potter," said Riddle's distant voice. "Alone in the Chamber of Secrets, forsaken by her friends, defeated at last by the Dark Lord she so unwisely challenged. You'll be back with your dear Mudblood mother soon, Aileen... She bought you twelve years of borrowed time... but Lord Voldemort got you in the end, as you knew he must..."

The pain was leaving her...

The Chamber seemed to be coming back into focus. Aileen gave her head a little shake and there was Fawkes, still resting his head on Aileen's arm. A pearly patch of tears was shining all around the wound - except that there was no wound.

"Get away, bird," said Riddle's voice suddenly. "Get away from her - I said, get away-"

Aileen raised her head. Riddle was pointing Ginny's wand at Fawkes; there was a bang like a gun, and Fawkes took flight again in a whirl of gold and scarlet.

"Phoenix tears..." said Riddle quietly, staring at Aileen's arm. "Of course... healing powers... I forgot..."

He looked into Aileen's face. "But it makes no difference. In fact, I prefer it this way. Just you and me, Aileen Potter... you and me..."

He raised the wand...

Aileen didn't think, she grabbed the basilisk fang and rolled, stabbing the fang into the dairy that was resting at her side.

There was a long, dreadful, piercing scream. Ink spurted out of the diary in torrents, streaming over Aileen's hands, flooding the floor. Riddle was writhing and twisting, screaming and flailing and then-

He had gone.

Ginny's wand fell to the floor with a clatter and there was silence. Silence except for the steady drip drip of ink still oozing from the diary. The basilisk venom had burned a sizzling hole right through it.

Aileen pulled herself into a sitting position, and looked to her leg. It was bent at the wrong angle and she could see bone. Taking a deep breath Aileen gripped her leg above and below the broken bone and snapped it back into place. Only years of pain stopped her from crying out. With the leg set she cast the bandaging spell she learnt that would hold the leg in place.

Satisfied for now, Aileen pulled herself to her feet – her robe hiding the damage to her leg – and slowly, she gathered together Ginny's wand and the Sorting Hat, and, with a huge tug, retrieved the glittering sword from the roof of the basilisk's mouth.

Then came a faint moan from the end of the Chamber. Ginny was stirring. As Aileen hurried toward her, she sat up. Her bemused eyes travelled from the huge form of the dead basilisk, over Aileen, in her blood-soaked robes, then to the diary in her hand. She drew a great, shuddering gasp and tears began to pour down her face. Aileen pulled her into a hug allowing the girl to weep on her shoulder.

"Aileen - oh, Aileen - I tried to tell you at b-breakfast, but I c-couldn't say it in front of Percy - it was me, Aileen - but I - I s-swear I d-didn't mean to - R-Riddle made me, he t-took me over - and - how did you kill that - that thing? W-where's Riddle? The last thing I r-remember is him coming out of the diary-"

"I don't blame you Ginny, you weren't in control. Riddle's gone and won't be coming back." Aileen promised.

"I'm going to be expelled!" Ginny wept on Aileen shoulder once more. "I've looked forward to coming to Hogwarts ever since B-Bill came and n-now I'll have to leave and - w-what'll Mum and Dad say?"

"They'll be glade you're alive. Dumbledore won't expel you Ginny, you weren't in control." Aileen continue muttering reassurance as Ginny cried into her shoulder. She had been through a lot this year and Aileen knew the younger girl will be having nightmares for a long time.

Eventually Ginny fell into a light doze against her shoulder so Aileen carefully picked the other girl up (a combination of adrenaline and the water that pooled around her feet giving her the strength) and began to leave the chamber.

Fawkes was waiting for her, hovering in the Chamber entrance. When she stepped back through the tunnel Aileen heard the stone doors close behind them with a soft hiss.

After a few minutes' progress up the dark tunnel, a distant sound of slowly shifting rock reached Aileen's turned the corner to see the rock fall and that Ron had managed to make a sizable gape.

"Ron!" Aileen called. "Ginny's okay! I've got her!"

She heard Ron give a strangled cheer, and his eager face appeared in the gape.

"Is she alright?" Ron demanded, when he realised that Aileen was carrying his sister.

"I'm just tired." Ginny mumbled, having woken at Aileen's shout.

"Ginny!" Ron thrust an arm through the gap in the rock to pull her through first once Aileen had set her back on her feet. "You're alive! I don't believe it! What happened? How - what - where did that bird come from?"

Fawkes had swooped through the gap after Ginny.

"He's Dumbledore's," said Aileen, climbing nimbly through the gab and immediately wrapped her arm round Ginny's shoulder's since she had started swaying the moment Ron released her from his hug.

"How come you've got a sword?" said Ron, gaping at the glittering weapon strapped to her hip.

"I'll explain when we get out of here," said Aileen with a sideways glance at Ginny, who was barely hanging on

"But -"

"Later," Aileen said shortly. "Where's Lockhart?"

"Back there," said Ron, still looking puzzled but jerking his head up the tunnel toward the pipe. "He's in a bad way. Come and see."

Since Aileen's hands were occupied, and Ron's wand broken, the only light in the dim tunnel came from Fawkes. They found Lockhart at the base of the tunnel that was the entrance to the chamber, humming merrily to himself as he played with some rocks. His memory was completely gone, and he seemed to have regressed to the clueless state of childhood yet he maintained the capacity to understand the English language.

"Have you thought of a way out?" Aileen asked Ron.

"No, I was trying to get the whole big enough so I could come and help. Not think of a way to get out." Ron responded.

Fawkes drew Aileen's attention then by hovering in front of her and fluttering his long golden tail features. "Are you sure?" Aileen asked the phoenix, realising what he was offering. Fawkes thrilled a happy tune that Aileen took to mean a yes.

"But you're much too heavy for a bird to pull up there-" Ron protested, looking perplexed.

"Fawkes," said Aileen with a growing smile, "isn't an ordinary bird." She turned quickly to the others. "We've got to hold on to each other. Ron you grab onto the back of my robes. Professor Lockhart-"

"She means you," said Ron sharply to Lockhart who hadn't responded to his name.

"You hold Ron's other hand-"

Ron took hold of the back of Aileen's robes, and Aileen tightened her hold on Ginny and reached out and took hold of Fawkes's strangely hot tail feathers.

An extraordinary lightness seemed to spread through her whole body and the next second, in a rush of wings, they were flying upward through the pipe. Aileen could hear Lockhart dangling below her, saying, "Amazing! Amazing! This is just like magic!"

The chill air was whipping through Aileen's hair, and before she knew it, it was over - all four of them were hitting the wet floor of Myrtle's bathroom, and as Lockhart straightened his hat, the sink that hid the pipe was sliding back into place.

Myrtle goggled at them.

"You're alive," she said blankly to Aileen.

"And the monster is dead." Aileen agreed grimly, gently helping Ginny to her feet and supporting her weight once more. She didn't know how much longer Ginny could stay being awake for, but Aileen had the horrible feeling that it wouldn't be long. She had nearly been drained of her soul – her magic – it would take a while for her to recover from that physically and mentally. Aileen was glad that Ginny had been eating decently sized portions of food thanks to her and the twins, if it wasn't for their nagging Aileen didn't want to think of the state Ginny would have been in.

Word count: 2,718

Copied: 1,290

Edited: 05/09/2017


	18. Chapter 18: Freedom Edited

Okay, lets start with: I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER. I'm just happily playing in JK's sand box. I DON'T OWN PERCY JACKSON either. I'm only allowed to play on the swing sets (pouts).

So, the next thing on my list of things to put on the top of this story: I've used a lot of the book structure of the first four years. By this I mean Aileen will be face a troll, save a dragon, go down the third floor, be blamed for opening the chamber, reveal her parseltongue abilities in the dueling club, save Ginny and kill the basilisk, and confront Sirius at the end of third year. Aileen will also be entered into the goblet, however she will be complete the tasks completely differently to Harry. If you don't like stories that do this then this isn't the story for you. Although I divert most majorly from the story line after book four, there are points through the first four years were Aileen dose something that Harry would never do because that is the way I've portrayed my character.

And finally, I have heavily edited the first twenty four chapters. You need to re-read the entire story to understand what happens after that point because it all ties together. By heavily edited, I mean nearly 40% of my story has completely been re-written. There is better characterization, more realistic sword skills and a little bit more on the emotional explanation of my character.

* * *

Chapter 18: Year two: Freedom

"Where now?" said Ron, with an anxious look at Ginny who was leaning heavily onto Aileen. He hadn't really noticed down in the chamber, he had just been so happy to see her alive, but now he was starting to notice that Ginny needed medical help. She was far too pale and looked like she was going to fall down any minute.

Aileen nodded forward, choosing not to say anything. Ron looked over and saw that Fawkes was hovering in the doorway, waiting for them.

Fawkes led the way down the empty they followed after him, Ron kept a wary eye on his sister and friend who were both starting to look a bit warn down. He doubted Aileen would need his help, but if his sister leaned on her any more for support, Ron contemplated just carrying her. He was more than strong enough to take her weight, having inherited his uncles physical build (according to his mother). All he had done while down in that chamber was move some rocks – Aileen had fought a bloody basilisk to save his sisters life! She must be exhausted, and yet she was still marching on, taking Ginny's weight at the same time. Sometimes, Ron didn't understand where she got all her strength and energy from. If it was him, he would have collapsed from exhaustion (that's not counting the fact that he probably wouldn't have survived!).

It took only a few minutes for them to find themselves outside Professor McGonagall's office.

Aileen knocked and pushed the door open, not willing to wait for someone to come and answer the door. She needed to sit down, and Ginny needed to be taken to the hospital wing. The only reason she hadn't headed straight there was because Fawkes was a magically sensitive creature and he would have known were Dumbledore was. Were Dumbledore was, Aileen had not doubt, that they would also find the Weasley parents. Although Ginny was exhausted, she was also emotionally drained and needed the support of her family.

For a moment there was silence as Aileen, Ron, Ginny, and Lockhart stood in the doorway, covered in muck and slime and (in Aileen's case) blood. Then there was a scream.

"Ginny!"

It was Mrs. Weasley, who had been sitting crying in front of the fire. She leapt to her feet, closely followed by Mr. Weasley, and both of them flung themselves on their daughter who Aileen released into their care, smiling gently.

Stood behind where Mr and Mrs Weasley had sat, were two young men. The first had to have been Charlie Weasley who worked with dragons. He was built similarly to the twins, shorter and stockier then Ron, who was long and lanky. He had a broad, good natured face, weather beaten skin, his arms were muscular and Aileen noticed a large shiny burn. The other man, who Aileen guessed to be William Weasley, was tall like Ron, but more sturdily build, with long hair that he had tied back into a ponytail. He was wearing an earing with a fang dangling from it. William's clothes wouldn't have looked out of place at a rock concert, except that Aileen recognized his boots to be made, not of leather, but of dragon hide. Both the boys had a solemn look on their face but when they spotted Ginny they sported wide, relieved smiles.

Aileen looked past them and saw Professor Dumbledore standing by the mantelpiece, beaming, next to Professor McGonagall, who was taking great, steadying gasps, clutching her chest. Fawkes went whooshing past Aileen's ear and settled on Dumbledore'sshoulder, just as Aileen found herself being swept into Mrs. Weasley's tight embrace (after she had released Ron).

"You saved her! You saved her! How did you do it?"

"I think we'd all like to know that," said Professor McGonagall weakly.

Mrs. Weasley let go of Aileen and returned to her previous spot by the fire where Mr Weasley had sat, Ginny curled in his lap. Aileen hesitated for a moment, then walked over to the desk and laid upon it the Sorting Hat, the ruby-encrusted sword, and what remained of Riddle's diary.

Then she started telling them everything. For nearly a quarter of an hour she spoke into the rapt silence, telling everything up to the point of entering the chamber. She was leaning back against the wall as she felt the adrenaline leave her system, she doubted she would be able to remain standing for very much longer.

"Very well," Professor McGonagall prompted her as she paused, "so you found out where the entrance was - breaking a hundred school rules into pieces along the way, I might add - but how on earth did you all get out of there alive, Potter?"

Aileen hesitated, she had so far managed to avoid mentioning Ginny in relation with the Dairy. She was sitting with her head against Mr. Weasley's shoulder, and tears were still coursing silently down her cheeks.

"Ginny had been possessed by a diary. The diary of Tom Riddle who is more commonly known as Voldemort." Aileen said softly getting horrified gasps from everyone listening as Ginny sobbed. "Tom took control of Ginny and made her open the chamber. He took her down to the chamber so he could take her magic and life and be restored to a body. Once I had killed the basilisk by stabbing it with the sword I used a loose fang to stab the diary. Stopping Voldemort from draining the life out of her." Aileen's eyes flicked to William who stood pale against the wall. "You might want to check her for traces of dark magic – I don't know if the death of the diary would have gotten rid of it all."

"I'll do so when we are finished here." William promised, his voiced slightly forced as he wrapped his head around everything that he had just been told.

"Miss Weasley should go up to the hospital wing right away," Dumbledore finally spoke in a firm voice. "This has been a terrible ordeal for her. There will be no punishment. Older and wiser wizards than she have been hoodwinked by Lord Voldemort." He strode over to the door and opened it. "Bed rest and perhaps a large, steaming mug of hot chocolate. I always find that cheers me up," he added, twinkling kindly down at her. "You will find that Madam Pomfrey is still awake. She's just giving out Mandrake juice - I daresay the basilisk's victims will be waking up any moment."

"So Hermione's okay!" said Ron brightly.

"There has been no lasting harm done, Ginny," said Dumbledore.

Mrs. Weasley led Ginny out, and Mr. Weasley followed, still looking deeply shaken. William and Charlie hesitated, both of them making a motion to her to indicate that they wanted to talk later. Aileen nodded her head in acceptance.

"You know, Minerva," Professor Dumbledore said thoughtfully to Professor McGonagall once they had left, "I think all this merits a good feast. Might I ask you to go and alert the kitchens?"

"Right," said Professor McGonagall crisply, also moving to the door. "I'll leave you to deal with Potter and Weasley, shall I?"

"Certainly," said Dumbledore.

She left.

"I seem to remember telling you that I would have to expel you if you broke any more school rules," said Dumbledore looking at Ron.

Ron opened his mouth in horror.

"Which goes to show that the best of us must sometimes eat our words," Dumbledore went on, smiling. "You will both receive Special Awards for Services to the School and - let me see - yes, I think two hundred points apiece for Gryffindor."

Ron went as brightly pink as Lockhart's valentineflowersand closed his mouth again.

"But one of us seems to be keeping mightily quiet about his part in this dangerous adventure," Dumbledore added. "Why so modest, Gilderoy?"

Aileen snorted quietly and turned to see that Lockhart was standing in a corner of the room, still wearing his vague smile. When Dumbledore addressed him, Lockhart looked over his shoulder to see who he was talking to.

"Professor Dumbledore," Ron said quickly, "there was anaccidentdown in the Chamber of Secrets. Professor Lockhart-"

"Am I a professor?" said Lockhart in mild surprise. "Goodness. I expect I was hopeless, was I?"

"He tried to do a Memory Charm and the wand backfired," Ron explained quietly to Dumbledore.

"Dear me," said Dumbledore, shaking his head, his long silver moustache quivering. "Impaled upon your own sword, Gilderoy!"

"Sword?" said Lockhart dimly. "Haven't got a sword. That girl has, though." He pointed at Aileen. "She'll lend you one."

"Would you mind taking Professor Lockhart up to the infirmary, too?" Dumbledore said to Ron. "I'd like a few more words with Aileen..."

Lockhart ambled out. Ron cast a curious look back at Dumbledore and Aileen as he closed the door.

Dumbledore crossed to one of the chairs by the fire.

"Sit down, Aileen," he said, and she finally sank into one of the seats opposite the headmaster.

"First of all, Aileen, I want to thank you," said Dumbledore, eyes twinkling again. "You must have shown me real loyalty down in the Chamber. Nothing but that could have called Fawkes to you."

He stroked the phoenix, which had fluttered down onto his knee. Aileen grinnedsoftly at the bird who had saved her life.

"I simple informed Riddle that you were a much better wizard and that, although you were not their physically, you were still there to help." Aileen shrugged her shoulders as Dumbledore watched her.

"And so you met Tom Riddle," said Dumbledore thoughtfully after a long moment of silence. "I imagine he was most interested in you..."

"He wanted to know how I survived when I was a child." Aileen answered, her eyes drifting to the fire. "He is under the misguided impression that we are the same."

"The same?" Dumbledore asked, confusion clouding his voice.

"Yes." Aileen sighed. "He believes that because I grew up with non-magicals, because I am an orphan and because I can speak parseltongue we are the same." Aileen's tone hardened. "What he doesn't realise is that we are polar opposites. He used his power to hurt, I use mine to help. He hates, while I love. He thinks he is superior while I know I am equal." Aileen told him.

"That is very wise of you," Dumbledore said softly.

"Headmaster," Aileen looked away from the fire then to see the old man smiling proudly at her. "Why can I speak parseltongue?"

"You can speak Parseltongue, Aileen," said Dumbledore calmly, "because Lord Voldemort - who is the last remaining ancestor of Salazar Slytherin - can speak Parseltongue. Unless I'm much mistaken, he transferred some of his own powers to you the night he gave you that scar. Not something he intended to do, I'm sure..."

"That's why my scar hurts whenever I'm near him." Aileen said in realisation.

"It certainly seems so."

"Professor, next year can I meet with you? I have come questions I would like answered, and some things I think you need to be aware off, but I don't know how to say it yet, or even the extent of what I want to discuss." Aileen asked hesitantly after a moment. It was something she had been thinking about after seeing the way things had gone in the last two years.

"Of course, child. I shell clear my schedule for say the morning of the first Saturday of next term?" Dumbledore suggested, his curiosity in what Aileen wanted to discuss shinning in his gaze although he didn't say anything about what she could possible want to speak about since there were so many different possibilities.

"I think that will do fine, headmaster. Gives me the entire summer to get everything down." Aileen agreed with a relived smile.

They fell into silence once more until Aileen broke it once more. "The sword," Aileen said nodding to the blood-stained silver sword that rested on McGonagall's desk. "Was it forged by the goblins, like my dagger?"

Dumbledore reached behind him and grabbed the sword, handing it to Aileen. The rubies blazing in the firelight. And for the first time she noticed the engraving just below the hilt.

Godric Gryffindor

"Gryffindor had that blade forged by the Goblins, so that when he was gone a true Gryffindor could wield the sword in defence of innocents." Dumbledore explained with a proud smile.

"A goblin made swords takes on all that will make it stronger, meaning that the basilisk venom is now impeded into the sword." Aileen said, holding the sword carefully in her hands.

"You are correct," Dumbledore agreed.

They once more sat in silence, just enjoying the calm atmosphere that had settled between them.

"I must draft an advertisement for the Daily Prophet," Dumbledore finally spoke. "We'll be needing a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher... Dear me, we do seem to run through them, don't we?"

Aileen giggled softly at that before getting up, gently leaning the sword against the fire place and turning to leave.

She had just reached for the handle, however, when the door burst open so violently that it bounced back off the wall, barely missing her.

Lucius Malfoy stood there, fury in his face. And cowering behind his legs, heavily wrapped in bandages, was Dobby.

"Good evening, Lucius," said Dumbledore pleasantly.

Mr. Malfoy swept into the room. Dobby went scurrying in after him, crouching at the hem of his cloak, a look of abject terror on his face.

The elf was carrying a stained rag with which he was attempting to finish cleaning Mr. Malfoys shoes. Apparently Mr. Malfoy had set out in a great hurry, for not only were his shoes half-polished, but his usually sleek hair was dishevelled. Ignoring the elf bobbing apologetically around his ankles, he fixed his cold eyes upon Dumbledore.

"So!" he said "You've come back. The governors suspended you, but you still saw fit to return to Hogwarts."

Aileen ignored the conversation, and focused on Dobby. He was looking at her with wide eyes before looking to the little black book Dumbledore was holding. Then he hit himself over his head before repeating his gesture. Aileen nodded her understanding, she had figured out that it was Malfoy's fault a while ago – just as Dumbledore had done.

"…fortunate the diary was discovered, and Riddle's memories wiped from it. Who knows what the consequences might have been otherwise..." Aileen turned her attention fully back to the conversation once Dobby had relaxed.

Mr. Malfoy forced himself to speak.

"Very fortunate," he said stiffly.

"Don't you want to know how Ginny got hold of that diary, Mr. Malfoy?" said Aileen softly, bringing his attention to her.

Lucius Malfoy rounded on her.

"How should I know how the stupid little girl got hold of it?" he said, but his left eye was twitching slightly. An action Aileen new meant he was supressing his anger.

"Because you gave it to her," said Aileen. "In Flourish and Blotts. You picked up her old Defence book and slipped the diary inside it, didn't you?"

She saw Mr. Malfoy's white hands clench and unclench.

"Prove it," he hissed.

"Oh, no one will be able to do that," said Dumbledore, smiling at Aileen, proud that she had made the connection and identified when the book was planted. He could have taken an educated guess from the rumours he heard, but he wasn't at the book store to be witness to the moment in which the diary would have been placed in Ginny's cauldron. "Not now that Riddle has vanished from the book. On the other hand, I would advise you, Lucius, not to go giving out any more of Lord Voldemort's old school things. If any more of them find their way into innocent hands, I think Arthur Weasley, for one, will make sure they are traced back to you..."

Lucius Malfoy stood for a moment, and Aileen distinctly saw his right hand twitch as though he was longing to reach for his wand. Instead, he turned to his house-elf. "We're going, Dobby!"

He wrenched open the door and as the elf came hurrying up to him, he kicked him right through it. They could hear Dobby squealing with pain all the way along the corridor. Aileen stood for a moment:

"Professor Dumbledore," she said hurriedly. "Can I give that diary back to Mr. Malfoy, please?"

"Certainly, Aileen," said Dumbledore calmly. "But hurry."

Aileen grabbed the diary and dashed out of the office. She could hear Dobby's squeals of pain receding around the corner. Quickly, Aileen took her blood stained, slime covered robes of, leaving her only in a normal shirt and jeans. Careful of her leg she ran down the dark corridor.

She caught up with them at the top of the stairs leading directly down to the Entrance Hall. It seemed as though Mr Malfoy was determined to get out of Hogwarts quickly.

"Mr. Malfoy," she gasped, skidding to a halt, "I've got something for you-"

And she forced the robe covered diary into Lucius Malfoy's hand.

"What the -?"

Mr. Malfoy ripped the robe off the diary, threw it aside, and then looked furiously from the ruined book to Aileen. "You'll meet the same sticky end as your parents' one of these days, Aileen Potter," he said softly repeating the same threat Draco had made the year before. "They were meddlesome fools, too."

He turned to go.

"Come, Dobby. I said, come."

But Dobby didn't move. He was holding up Aileen's disgusting robe, and looking at it as though it were a priceless treasure.

"Master has given a robe," said the elf in wonderment. "Master gave it to Dobby."

"What's that?" spat Mr. Malfoy. "What did you say?"

"Got a robe," said Dobby in disbelief. "Master threw it, and Dobby caught it, and Dobby - Dobby is free."

Lucius Malfoy stood frozen, staring at the elf then he lunged at Aileen.

"You've lost me my servant, girl!"

But Dobby shouted, "You shall not harm Aileen Potter!"

There was a loud bang, and Mr. Malfoy was thrown backward. He crashed down the stairs, three at a time, landing in a crumpled heap on the landing below. He got up, his face livid, and pulled out his wand, but Dobby raised a long, threatening finger.

"You shall go now," he said fiercely, pointing down at Mr. Malfoy. "You shall not touch Aileen Potter. You shall go now."

Lucius Malfoy had no choice. With a last, incensed stare at the pair of them, he swung his cloak around him and hurried out of sight.

"Aileen Potter freed Dobby!" said the elf shrilly, gazing up at Aileen, moonlight from the nearest window reflected in his orb-like eyes. "Aileen Potter set Dobby free!"

Aileen carefully knelt in front of Dobby and placed a hand on his shoulder. "You be careful Dobby." Aileen said softly. "Now I must be getting to the hospital wing, my friend should be waking up soon."

Dobby threw his arms around Aileen's neck and hugged her.

"Aileen Potter is greater by far than Dobby knew!" he sobbed. "Farewell, Aileen Potter!"

And with a final loud crack, Dobby disappeared.

When Aileen walked into the hospital wing she immediately noticed that all the petrified students had been restored and had probably gone down to the Great Hall. Ron had also left but the rest of the Weasley's were gathered around Ginny – including Fred and George. Percy was nowhere to be scene but Aileen assumed he was with his girlfriend.

"MISS POTTER!" Madam Pomfrey shouted horrified, upon catching sight of her. Aileen just sighed and moved over to the closest bed.

"I have five bruised ribs, one cracked rib and a broken leg. I have set and bound my leg but done nothing else. I have also sustained other minor bruising and scratches." Aileen spoke calmly before madam Pomfrey could do anything.

She nodded and banished the wrapping around Aileen's leg, also cutting off most of the trouser leg so that she had better access. While Madam Pomfrey worked on her, Aileen looked over to the Weasley's to see them looking at her in concern.

"Raven, why did you not come to the hospital wing immediately?" Fred asked concerned.

"Because the headmaster needed to be in formed." Aileen answered. "I had dealt with my injuries enough that they could go unattended for a while."

"You should have joined us when we came here." Mrs Weasley disagreed. "I'm sure that whatever the headmaster had to say could have waited until after you had received medical care."

"If I didn't believe I would be alright I would have left the headmaster and spoken with him at latter date." Aileen soothed their worries. "However I have taught myself a lot about healing and I know my limits." Aileen told them.

"She's correct, as much as I disapprove, I quizzed her at the end of last year when she spent a few days in my care." Madam Pomfrey agreed with Aileen assessment of her abilities. "She has also been spending a couples of hours a month in my hospital learning how to heal. Now, young lady, you are magical exhausted, I don't want you casting anything for the next four days. Am I clear?"

"Yes ma'am."

Madam Pomfrey handed her a jar and a roll of bandages. "I know you will not allow me to do it, so I suggest you go clean yourself up, spread the cream on your ribs then bind them tightly. Return here when you are finished and I will give you some Skele-grow for that leg."

Aileen hopped of the bed and went to the bathroom that was attached to the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey had discovered during her first stay in the hospital wing that Aileen didn't like ANYONE touching her, which was why, at the end of that year, she had used switching spells to change her cloths and cleaning spells until Aileen woke up.

When she returned from the bathroom – dressed in her night cloths that one of the house elves got her – Aileen found William and Charlie waiting for her.

Aileen went to her bed and climbed in, drinking the cup of Skelo-grow that Madam Pomfrey left her, before turning to the two men.

"You wished to talk?" Aileen said softly, not wishing to disturb Ginny who was asleep across from her.

"Yeah," Charlie said.

"We wanted to thank you." William said. Aileen frowned.

"Ginny is like a little sister to me," Aileen informed them.

"We didn't just mean for saving Ginny. We wanted to thank you for a lot of things:" William began,

"For giving Ron confidence in himself," Charlie picked up, reminding Aileen strongly of Fred and George. If they were here Aileen was sure that would have made a comment about how their brothers were stealing their show.

"For seeing the twins as separate people,"

"For giving Percy the kick in the backside he needed,"

"For the money you gave mum and dad,"

"For being a loyal friend." Charlie finished.

"You call Ginny your sister, and Fred and George call you 'their little Raven' in their letters. We haven't spent much time with you, but we would be proud to call you family." William explained.

The rest of the final term passed in a haze of blazing sunshine. Hogwarts was back to normal with only a few, small differences - Defense Against the Dark Arts classes were cancelled ("but we've had plenty of practice at that anyway," Ron told a disgruntled Hermione) and Lucius Malfoy had been sacked as a school governor. Draco was no longer strutting around the school as though he owned the place. On the contrary, he looked resentful and sulky.

Ginnyregained the happy and energetic attitude she had at the beginning of the year, much to the relief of Aileen and the Weasleys. Ginny started hanging out with a blond first year Ravenclaw and some of the other students from her year, including Colin, now that she was no longer under the influence of the Diary. Despite her happy attitude Aileen made sure that Ginny new she could come to her with any of her problems.

Aileen started a correspondence with William ("it's Bill, I'm only William when mom's annoyed!") and Charlie, filling them in on everything their siblings may have left out in their letters. Through her letters with Charlie, Aileen learnt more about Norbert, who was in fact female so they were calling her Norberta. From Bill she learnt a lot about the Goblins who the elder Weasley worked for and he would also include funny stories about his family.

However it was soon time for the journey home on the Hogwarts Express and the end of her second year at Hogwarts.

Word Count: 4,167

Copied: 1,776

Edited: 05/09/2017


	19. Chapter 19: Suspicions Edited

Okay, lets start with: I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER. I'm just happily playing in JK's sand box. I DON'T OWN PERCY JACKSON either. I'm only allowed to play on the swing sets (pouts).

So, the next thing on my list of things to put on the top of this story: I've used a lot of the book structure of the first four years. By this I mean Aileen will be face a troll, save a dragon, go down the third floor, be blamed for opening the chamber, reveal her parseltongue abilities in the dueling club, save Ginny and kill the basilisk, and confront Sirius at the end of third year. Aileen will also be entered into the goblet, however she will be complete the tasks completely differently to Harry. If you don't like stories that do this then this isn't the story for you. Although I divert most majorly from the story line after book four, there are points through the first four years were Aileen dose something that Harry would never do because that is the way I've portrayed my character.

And finally, I have heavily edited the first twenty four chapters. You need to re-read the entire story to understand what happens after that point because it all ties together. By heavily edited, I mean nearly 40% of my story has completely been re-written. There is better characterization, more realistic sword skills and a little bit more on the emotional explanation of my character.

* * *

Anyone Else Board of that AN yet?

* * *

Chapter 19: Year three: Suspicions and Questions

Aileen's summer began similarly to the year before. However, she had spoken with Fred and George before leaving Hogwarts. They had confronted her about the bars on her windows the year before and the fact that her school things had been locked in the cupboard under the stairs. Aileen hadn't been ready to confess what happened inside the Dursley's houses outright, so she told them a half-truth. She told them that the Dursley didn't like magic and they did not love her, that they have never cared for her. They hated her and would lock her in her room and starve her.

The twins didn't ask questions or demand she speak with someone. They just offered to help her.

She couldn't leave the Dursley's completely (her fear of the wards keeping her there until she could find a way of bringing them down or failing that, clear the air with the headmaster) so the twins offered to help her with food. Getting their mom to send her food packages and they also gave her a shrunken basket full of all sorts of food from the kitchens which had been placed under stasis. They also wrote her a letter, impersonating Professor McGonagall:

 _Dear Mr and Mrs Dursley_

 _Miss Potter has informed us that you regularly have guest over and so fear the exposure of the magical world if they come across Miss Potter's school things lying around the house, which was why you had them locked away last summer._

 _However Miss Potter has many written assignments to complete over the summer especially since she is preparing for the new electives she has chosen to take part in next year. Because of this we ask that Miss Potter be allowed to keep her things in her room. She has promised to up hold the Statue of Secrecy by keeping her books and other magical items hidden in her room at all time._

 _Yours Sincerely_

 _Professor McGonagall_

 _Gryffindor Head of House_

 _Deputy Headmistress._

Vernon had not dared to lock away her things with the threat of her contacting her 'Head of House' and informing her that she hadn't been allowed access to her school work. The school work offered her a distraction for when she was locked in her room and unable to sleep.

The summer before had been very packed because she was doing all the chores around the house, helping the neighbours, babysitting, fighting monsters and healing after being beaten by her uncle. This summer, however, it was worse because she was doing her school work, writing two books and compiling everything for Dumbledore, as well. The time it was taking her to heal was increasing due to her state of exhaustion, but she was stubborn and with the help of the healing potions that Aileen had been brewing throughout the school year and the decent food she had access to the strain on her magic was not as bad as it could have been.

Aileen would have been able to cope adequately with all this, had the number of beatings not been increased exponentially. A week into the school vacation (just after Vernon had released her from the basement) she'd received a telephone call from a fellow wizard.

The summer before Aileen had gone to visit the Weasleys and during her time there she had taught Mr Weasley a lot about the non-magical world, including how to use a telephone. Instead of Mr Weasley being the one to call Aileen however, it was Ron who had probably not listened properly when Mr Weasley had explained it to him.

As was her luck, it was Vernon who answered the phone.

"Vernon Dursley speaking." Vernon adopted the professional voice he always used when answering the house phone.

Aileen, who happened to be in the room at the time cleaning the furniture, froze as she heard Ron's voice answer. "HELLO? HELLO? CAN YOU HEAR ME? I - WANT - TO - TALK - TO - AILEEN - POTTER!"

Ron was yelling so loudly that Vernon jumped and held the receiver a foot away from his ear, staring at it with an expression of mingled fury and alarm.

"WHO IS THIS?" he roared in the direction of the mouthpiece. "WHO ARE YOU?" Aileen winced slightly. By shouting back, Vernon had made it seem like shouting was the proper way of speaking down the phone.

"RON - WEASLEY!" Ron bellowed back, as though he and Vernon were speaking from opposite ends of a football field. "I'M - A - FRIEND - OF - AILEEN'S - FROM - SCHOOL -"

Vernon's small eyes swivelled around to Aileen, who wasstood, staring at the phone in utter shock. Seriously, did everything she tell that boy go in one ear and out the other? And why wasn't Me Weasley taking the phone call. Vernon wouldn't have dared shot in shut a manor at Mr Weasley because he was a fully grown wizard.

"THERE IS NO AILEEN POTTER HERE!" he roared, now holding the receiver at arm's length, as though frightened it might explode. "I DON'T KNOW WHAT SCHOOL YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT! NEVER CONTACT ME AGAIN! DON'T YOU COME NEAR MY FAMILY!"

And he threw the receiver back onto the telephone as if dropping a poisonous spider.

The next day Aileen had sent Ron a letter via Hedwig's, giving him explicit, step-by-step instructions on how to use the telephone. She finished her instructions with the added notion to not call her again because she would not be the one picking up the phone – Vernon would. Calling her by phone was to be a last resort and they should contact her via Hedwig from then on.

The only contact she had had with her friends in the last five weeks was the minimal letters she could risk sending. However she still had social interactions with those in her neighbourhood but she wasn't friends with any of them. They were simply children she looked after, the elderly that she helped or extremely busy parents who didn't have the time to do chores. The closest thing she had to a friend outside of Hogwarts was the Nymph who would meet her in the park once a week and tell her stories of demi-gods and Atlantis.

Now, however it was one o'clock in the morning – July 31st - she was officially thirteen years old. The Dursley's had never really celebrated her birthday and Aileen was rather hoping that they had forgotten about it. Despite it being so late and the fact she most likely had a very full day in the morning Aileen stayed awake, sat on her windowsill and watching the stars.

Aileen, though still rather small and skinny for her age, had grown a few inches over the last had also started to develop more curves – her boob sizes having increased to such a degree she was forced to buy new bras in the first week of the holiday. Her legs were quiet shapely because of the amount of exercise she got and she had a decent amount of muscle on her arms and stomach – not enough to look unattractive but enough to show she was fit and strong. Her face had lost what was left of her baby fat but despite all this she still looked very young – her short stature and large eyes acting against her.

Aileen's sharp eyes lazily trailed the sky, absent minded-ly listing the names of the Constellations that caught her attention. Gazing absently over the rooftops, it was a few seconds before Aileen realized what she was seeing.

Silhouetted against the golden moon, and growing larger every moment, was a large, strangely lopsided creature, and it was flapping in Aileen's direction. She stood quite still, her hand resting on the dagger she had strapped to her leg, watching it sink lower and lower. Then the bizarre creature soared over one of the street lamps of Privet Drive, and Aileen, realizing what it was, moved aside.

Through the window soared three owls, two of them holding up the third, which appeared to be unconscious. They landed with a soft flump on Aileen's bed, and the middle owl, which was large and grey, keeled right over and lay motionless. There was a large package tied to its legs.

Aileen recognized the unconscious owl at once - his name was Errol, and he belonged to the Weasley family. Aileen dashed to the bed, carefully untied the cords around Errol's legs, took off the parcel, and then carried Errol to Hedwig's cage. Errol opened one bleary eye, gave a feeble hoot of thanks, and began to gulp some water.

Aileen turned back to the remaining owls. One of them, the large snowy female, was her own Hedwig. She, too, was carrying a parcel and looked extremely pleased with herself. She gave Aileen an affectionate nip with her beak as she removed her burden, then flew across the room to join Errol who was starting to lean precariously to one side.

Aileen didn't recognize the third owl, a handsome tawny one, but she knew at once where it had come from, because in addition to a third package, it was carrying a letter bearing the Hogwarts crest. When Aileen relieved this owl of its burden, it ruffled its feathers importantly, stretched its wings, and took off through the window into the night.

Aileen sat down on her bed and grabbed Errol's package, took off the brown paper, and discovered a present wrapped in gold and her first ever birthday card. Fingers trembling slightly, she opened the envelope. Two pieces of paper fell out - a letter and a newspaper clipping.

The clipping had clearly come out of the wizarding newspaper, the Daily Prophet, because the people in the black-and-white picture were moving.

Aileen picked up the clipping, smoothed it out, to read:

MINISTRY OF MAGIC EMPLOYEE SCOOPS GRAND PRIZE  
Arthur Weasley, Head of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office at the Ministry of Magic, has won the annual Daily Prophet Grand Prize Galleon Draw.  
A delighted Mr. Weasley told the Daily Prophet, "We will be spending the gold on a summer holiday in Egypt, where our eldest son, Bill, works as a curse breaker for Gringotts Wizarding Bank."  
The Weasley family will be spending a month in Egypt, returning for the start of the new school year at Hogwarts, which five of the Weasley children currently attend.

Aileen scanned the moving photograph, and a grin spread across her face as she saw all nine of the Weasleys waving furiously at her, standing in front of a large pyramid. Plump little Mrs. Weasley; tall, balding Mr. Weasley; six sons; and one daughter, all (though the black-and-white picture didn't show it) with flaming-red hair. Right in the middle of the picture was Ron, tall and gangling, with his pet rat, Scabbers, on his shoulder and his arm around his little sister, Ginny.

Aileen couldn't think of anyone who deserved to win a large pile of gold more than the Weasleys, who were very nice and quiet poor (they were very careful on how they used the money she had given them the year before; they seemed to have decided it is last resort money since they couldn't give it back to her). She picked up Ron's letter and unfolded it.

Dear Aileen,  
Happy birthday!  
Look, I'm really sorry about that telephone call. I hope the Muggles didn't give you a hard time. I asked Dad, and he reckons I shouldn't have shouted.  
It's amazing here in Egypt. Bill's taken us around all the tombs and you wouldn't believe the curses those old Egyptian wizards put on them. Mum wouldn't let Ginny come in the last one. There were all these mutant skeletons in there, of Muggles who'd broken in and grown extra heads and stuff.  
I couldn't believe it when Dad won the Daily Prophet Draw. Seven hundred galleons! Most of its gone on this trip, but they're going to buy me a new wand for next year.

Aileen remembered only too well the occasion when Ron's old wand had snapped. It had happened when the car he had been flying to Hogwarts had crashed into a tree on the school grounds. The wand had not worked properly all year round and Aileen had been unable to convince the boy to ask his mother for another one.

We'll be back about a week before term starts and we'll be going up to London to get my wand and our new books. Any chance of meeting you there?  
Don't let the Muggles get you down!  
Try and come to London,  
Ron  
P.S. Percy's Head Boy. He got the letter last week.

Aileen now turned to her present and unwrapped it. Inside was what looked like a miniature glass spinning top. There was another note from Ron beneath it.

Aileen - this is a Pocket Sneakoscope. If there's someone untrustworthy around, it's supposed to light up and spin. Bill says it's rubbish sold for wizard tourists and isn't reliable, because it kept lighting up at dinner last night. But he didn't realize Fred and George had put beetles in his soup.  
Bye – Ron

Aileen, knowing that leaving a magical instrument that checks for untrustworthiness out was a bad idea, grabbed some of Dudley's old cloths and carefully wrapped it up before placing it gently in her trunk. She would look into the magic behind the Sneakoscope and see if she could find a useful way of using it. Aileen then picked up the parcel Hedwig had brought.

Inside this, too, there was a wrapped present, a card, and a letter, this time from Hermione.

Dear Aileen,

Ron wrote to me and told me about his phone call to your Uncle Vernon. I do hope you're all right.  
I'm on holiday in France at the moment and I didn't know how I was going to send this to you - what if they'd opened it at customs? - but then Hedwig turned up! I think she wanted to make sure you got something for your birthday for a change. I bought your present by owl-order; there was an advertisement in the Daily Prophet (I've been getting it delivered; it's so good to keep up with what's going on in the wizarding world), Did you see that picture of Ron and his family a week ago? I bet he's learning loads. I'm really jealous - the ancient Egyptian wizards were fascinating.  
There's some interesting local history of witchcraft here, too. I've rewritten my whole History of Magic essay to include some of the things I've found out, I hope it's not too long - it's two rolls of parchment more than Professor Binns asked for.  
Ron says he's going to be in London in the last week of the holidays. Can you make it? Will your aunt and uncle let you come? I really hope you can. If not, I'll see you on the Hogwarts Express on September first!  
Love from  
Hermione  
P.S. Ron says Percy's Head Boy. I'll bet Percy's really pleased. Ron doesn't seem too happy about it.

Aileen laughed quietly as she put Hermione's letter aside and picked up her present. It was very heavy. Her heart gave a huge bound as she removed the paper and saw a sleek black leather case, with silver words stamped across it, reading Broomstick Servicing Kit.

"Wow, Hermione!" Aileen whispered, unzipping the case to look inside.

There was a large jar of Fleetwood's High-Finish Handle Polish, a pair of gleaming silver Tail-Twig Clippers, a tiny brass compass to clip on your broom for long journeys, and a Handbook of Do-It-Yourself Broom care.

Aileen put the leather case aside and picked up her last parcel. She recognized the untidy scrawl on the brown paper at once: this was from Hagrid, the Hogwarts gamekeeper. She tore off the top layer of paper and glimpsed something green and leathery, but before she could unwrap it properly, the parcel gave a strange quiver, and whatever was inside it snapped loudly - as though it had jaws.

Thinking quickly Aileen kept a firm hold of the present in one hand and reached into her draws to pull a belt out with her other. With quick movement's she wrapped the thing up with the belt while also knocking the last of the paper away. It was good thing she had gotten the belt round it because the moment she removed the paper the thing attempted to get out of her grasp and bit her.

Now that it was secure Aileen took the time to find out what Hagrid had sent her. Only to blink in shock. It was a book. A book with a handsome green cover, emblazoned with the golden title The Monster Book of Monsters. The Monster Book shuddered angrily, but could not escape, so Aileen placed it down on the bed and reached for Hagrid's card.

Dear Aileen,  
Happy Birthday!  
Think you might find this useful for next year. Won't say no more here. Tell you when I see you.  
Hope the Muggles are treating you right.  
All the best,  
Hagrid

It struck Aileen as ominous that Hagrid thought a biting book would come in useful, but she put Hagrid's card up next to Ron's and Hermione's, grinning more broadly than ever. Now there was only the letter from Hogwarts left.

Noticing that it was rather thicker than usual, Aileen slit open the envelope, pulled out the first page of parchment within. It was a permission slip to attend Hogsmeade during the school year. All third years were given the privilege to visit the little village – it was a way of escaping for a little while, of restocking on parchment (and sweets) and the older students even used the opportunity to ask their crushes out on a date.

The next morning Aileen had started breakfast and had the start of it on the table (the toast, yogurt and fruit Petunia insisted were always there even if the men of the houses only ate the toast) before Petunia arrived in the kitchen. She always arrived at least five minutes before her husband and son to ensure Aileen had gotten up and prepared breakfast for them. Aileen placed Petunia's cup of tea in front of her before pulling the Hogsmeade letter from her pocket and placing it on the table too.

"What is this?" Petunia snapped, bringing the piece of parchment closer to her.

"It's a permission form permitting me to leave school grounds and visit a local village on scheduled weekends." Aileen answered.

"And what do you want me to do with this?" Petunia demanded looking up at Aileen with a glare.

"I would like for you to sign it."

"And why would I do such a thing?"

"You don't have to pay for anything. It does not affect your life. Neither me, or Hogwarts will contact you about it again." Aileen explained. "Also, the visit to Hogsmeade is something students have been doing for five hundred years and needed permission to go for the last two hundred years. The only parents who don't sign the form are those who abuse their children. If I were to return and tell them I can't go to Hogsmeade they are going to start asking questions. How long do you think you can hid what you've been doing to me?" Aileen raised a challenging eyebrow at the rapidly paling woman in front of her.

"Fine," Petunia furiously signed the parchment. "Now you had better get on with your chores before Vernon gets down here."

Aileen nodded, slipped the parchment back into her pocket and finished making the rest of breakfast: American style pancakes with sausage, bacon and scrambled egg.

By the time Aileen had finished cooking everything and had it all laid out on the table, Vernon and Dudley were up and watching a brand-new television, a welcome-home-for-the-summer present for Dudley, who had been complaining loudly about the long walk between the fridge and the television in theliving room. Dudley had spent most of the summer in the kitchen, his piggy little eyes fixed on the screen and his five chins wobbling as he ate continually.

Aileen didn't really pay attention to what the television was saying until she caught part of the latest report – the change in the reporter's tone having caught her attention.

"...the public is warned that Black is armed and extremely dangerous. A special hot line has been set up, and any sighting of Black should be reported immediately."

"No need to tell us he's no good," snorted Vernon, staring over the top of his newspaper at the prisoner. "Look at the state of him, the filthy layabout! Look at his hair!"

Aileen looked at the man on the TV and had to suppress a gasp of surprise. Despite his gaunt face that was surrounded by a matted, elbow-length tangled hair Aileen recognised him. He was the same man that appeared in many of the photo's Hagrid had given her. He was the man who appeared in the Mirror of Erised. He was Sirius Black, her godfather and the man her parents had chosen as having primary guardianship of her upon their deaths.

The reporter had reappeared.

"The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries will announce today -"

"Hang on!" barked Uncle Vernon, staring furiously at the reporter. "You didn't tell us where that maniac's escaped from! What use is that? Lunatic could be coming up the street right now!"

"Azkaban." Aileen murmured, still staring blankly at the screen.

"What? Speak up girl." Vernon sneered.

"Azkaban, Sirius Black was imprisoned in Azkaban for betraying my parents to the Dark Lord Voldemort and murdering thirteen people in a mass explosion." Aileen answered.

She had done research into the war and her parents and found many old newspaper articles from the time about Sirius Black and how he was her parents Secret Keeper. But despite all this supposed information she never found a record of a trial; and she looked in to the Ministry Archives since all trials are publicly recorded unless they had been sealed. If they are sealed then only the date and time of the trial is released along with the punishment if the person was declared guilty. She found nothing on Sirius Black when she sent for the information yet she was able to get the records of all the other Death Eater's or suspected Death Eaters whose names had been mentioned in her research including Lucius Malfoy who had a lot of political influence.

"What do you mean betrayed to this Voldy-Character?" Petunia questioned, confused.

"What do you know about how my parents died?" Aileen asked with a frown, not understanding why Petunia didn't know about Voldemort.

Vernon went to open his mouth angrily, obviously not like the way Aileen was asking questions, but Petunia cut his off with a sharp look. Ever since she had gotten the letter saying that her sister and brother in law had been murdered, she had wanted to know why and she had wanted to know why her sister's friends or even Potter's friends couldn't take the girl in. she deserved to be with her own kind, not abandoned with them who could never understand her.

"All I know is that Lily was murdered, and you were given to me because of some kind of protection. The Letter didn't say anything else." Petunia answered with a sneer of disgust at how little she had been told. And in a letter no less!

"Did Dumbledore write the letter?" Aileen questioned, adding another question to her list. Petunia just nodded her head. "Right, okay. So twenty three years ago, a Dark Wizard rose to power. Killing lots of people: Magical and normal." Aileen began her explanation.

"The terrorists who killed my parents." Petunia realised, her eyes widening in horror.

Aileen's throat tighten and her eyes widened in shock as what Petunia said sunk in. So Voldemort had not only be the cause of her parents and paternal grandparent's death, but also her maternal grandparents.

"The dark Wizard – Voldemort – was at the height of his power, and the wizarding world was about to crumble and leave the path open to your world, when he came after my parents. Mum and dad had gone into hiding, I don't know why but they used very powerful magic that hid their location in a person. That person is known as the secret keeper, and as long as they don't give out the address my parents were safe. It's believed Sirius Black – one of my dad's best friends – betrayed them, and gave the secret to Voldemort. When Voldemort came to my house, he killed my father who was trying to protect me and mum. And he killed my mum. But he didn't know that in killing my mum, she used very powerful magic based on blood and love. That's why I survived, and that's why I was given to you. The protection running though my blood could be reinforced and placed on a residence if I lived with blood relatives."

"And what happened to this Black person?" Petunia asked after a long moment to gather herself after hearing about her sister's death.

"On the death of Voldemort, he apparently fled but one of my dad's other friend's caught up with him – Peter Pettigrew. When Pettigrew tried to stop him, Black was reported casting a blasting curse that hit a gas main line, leading to the death of Pettigrew and twelve innocent by-standards." Aileen gave them the official story of what happened, even if she had doubts. There was no point in telling her relatives that since there was nothing they would or could do.

"When will they learn," said Vernon, glaring viciously at Aileen as he realised his wife had gotten the answers she was looking for, "that hanging's the only way to deal with these people?"

Aileen caught the double meaning behind his statement (how couldn't she?): he was referring to both maniac killers and Magicals (it just so happened that Sirius Black was being classed as both).

Vernon drained his teacup, glanced at his watch, and added, "I'd better be off in a minute, Petunia. Marge's train gets in at ten."

Marge Dursley, much like her brother, was a nasty piece of work. She was just as fat as her brother, and liked being considered normal. Having inherited the bulk of their parent's fortune, she lived in a large country house. There she was considered a respectful member of the community who raised and bred dogs (mostly bulldogs and police dogs) and received a sizable income doing so. Marge, much to Aileen's relief, didn't often visit Privet Drive because she didn't like leaving her dogs in the care of others. But whenever she did visit, it was burned into Aileen's min.

At Dudley's fifthbirthday party, Marge had whacked Aileen around the shins with her walking stick to stop her from beating Dudley at musical statues. It had been the only party that the Dursley's couldn't stop her from going too since Petunia hadn't thought of a lie quick enough when one of the mother's asked. Petunia never made that mistake again because she always had an excuse ready for every party that followed.

A few years later, she had turned up at Christmas with a computerized robot for Dudley and a box of dog biscuits for Aileen. On her last visit, the year before Aileen started at Hogwarts, Aileen had accidentally trodden on the tail of her favourite dog. Ripper had chased Aileen out into the garden and up a tree, and Marge had refused to call him off until past midnight. The memory of this incident still brought tears of laughter to Dudley's eyes.

"Marge'll be here for a week," Vernon snarled, "and while we're on the subject," he pointed a fat finger threateningly at Aileen, "we need to get a few things straight before I go and collect her."

Dudley withdrew his gaze from the television. Instead he fixed his sunken eyes on Aileen.

"Firstly," growled Vernon, "you'll keep a civil tongue in your head when you're talking to Marge. Secondly as Marge doesn't know anything about your abnormality, I don't want any - any funny stuff while she's here. You behave yourself, got me?"

Aileen raised her eyebrow at that. She had _never_ misbehaved before. Why would she start to now? The few times she had done accidental much hadn't been because she wanted to miss behaviour, but rather in order to protect herself or prevent the bullying of a teacher.

"And thirdly," said Vernon, his mean little eyes now slits in his great purple face, "we've told Marge you attend St. Brutus's Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Juniors."

"And if she talks with the neighbours?" Aileen asked calmly. "They are all under the impression that I got into a privet school."

"She won't ask." Vernon said with absolute conviction. "Well, Petunia," Vernon continued, getting heavily to his feet, "I'll be off to the station, then. Want to come along for the ride, Dudders?"

"No," said Dudley, whose attention had returned to the television now that Vernon had finished threatening Aileen.

"Duddy's got to make himself smart for his auntie," said Petunia, smoothing Dudley's thick blond hair. "Mummy's bought him a lovely new bow-tie."

Vernon clapped Dudley on his porky shoulder.

"See you in a bit, then," he said, and he left the kitchen.

Aileen spent most of the day out at the park. She had found a stray dog that seemed to have jumped straight from a Divination book: The Grim. However he was a very sweet, very skinny, normal dog. Obviously a stray. She cleaned it using an abandoned, but functioning well, and brushed his coat using a brush she had borrowed from Mrs Figg before clipping the mattered fur so it wasn't weighing the dog down. Aileen had also stolen some meat from the Dursleys for the dog to eat. She was sure it could find plenty of rabbits and rats in the area but she wanted to make sure it ate something decent.

When she wasn't helping the Dog, Aileen was playing with the children that had braved the windy conditions. Their parents smiled gratefully, signalled how long they were going to be, then left. Several times Aileen ended up pulling the dog into the games. He was surprising gentle with the littlest girl, a three year old, despite the fact that he came up to Aileen's waist.

Over the next week Aileen spent as much time as she could outside the house. She did the chores that was asked of her and made sure she was back in time to make the Dursley's three meals a day but other than that she was not seen inside the Dursley's house hold. She preferred to spend it working, helping Mrs Figg, playing with the dog, studying or fighting monsters (and wasn't it just sad that she would rather risk her life fighting monsters then spend time around her last remaining mortal family?).

The week finally came to an end, and it was the night of Marge's last stay. Aileen had been forced to cook a fancy dinner, while Vernon had finally opened several bottles of wine that he had been gifted years ago. As it was Marge's last night, she had forced Aileen to eat with them, no doubt planning on criticising her. Aileen had managed to avoid Marge for almost her entire stay, spending no more than ten minutes in her presence for the entire week, but it seemed Marge didn't want to leave without getting her usual shots in.

They got all the way through the soup and the salmon without a single mention of Aileen's faults (which was something that Marge took great pleasure in listing). During the lemon meringue pie, Vernon bored them with a long talk about Grunnings, his drill-making company; then Petunia made coffee and Vernon brought out a bottle of brandy.

"Can I tempt you, Marge?"

Marge had already had quite a lot of wine. Her huge face was very red.

"Just a small one, then," she chuckled. "A bit more than that...and a bit more...that's the ticket."

Dudley was eating his fourth slice of pie. Petunia was sipping coffee with her little finger sticking out. Aileen had only been allowed to eat some of the salad but was being forced to stay at the table despite her wish to disappear upstairs: she was not a part of this family.

"Aah," said Marge, smacking her lips and putting the empty brandy glass back down. "Excellent nosh, Petunia. It's normally just a fry-up for me in an evening, what with twelve dogs to look after..." She burped richly and patted her great tweed stomach, not realising that she was actually complimenting Aileen's cooking instead of Petunia's. "Pardon me. But I do like to see a healthy-sized boy," she went on, winking at Dudley. "You'll be a proper-sized man, Dudders, like your father." Marge complimented even though Vernon was morbidly obese and likely to die before his mid-forties. Dudley was just as morbidly obese, but he had the chance of reducing his size easier if Petunia actually realised this and enforced exercise and a diet. When Vernon noticed that Marge's glass was nearly empty, he held up the bottle in a silent query. "Yes, I'll have a spot more brandy, Vernon..."

"Now, this one here -"

She jerked her head atAileen who sat straight back and ridged in her seat. Her hands were folded primly on her lap and her head was tilted downward slightly. 'The image of the perfect lady' the purebloods would have complemented had they seen her.

"This one's got a mean, runty look about her. You get that with dogs. I had Colonel Fubster drown one last year. Ratty little thing it was. Weak. Underbred." Marge snarled viciously at Aileen with her last words.

"It all comes down to blood, as I was saying the other day. Bad blood will out. Now, I'm saying nothing against your family, Petunia" - she patted Petunia's bony hand with her shovel-like one "but your sister was a bad egg. They turn up in the best families. Then she ran off with a wastrel and here's the result right in front of us."

"This Potter," said Aunt Marge loudly, seizing the brandy bottle and splashing more into her glass and over the tablecloth, "you never told me what he did?"

Vernon and Petunia were looking extremely tense. Dudley had even looked up from his pie to gape at his parents.

"He - didn't work," said Uncle Vernon, with half a glance at Aileen who was calmly looking at Marge, her face completely blanked of emotions. "Unemployed."

"As I expected!" said Marge, taking a huge swig of brandy and wiping her chin on her sleeve. "A no-account, good-for-nothing, lazy scrounger who -"

Aileen calmly got to her feet and turned to leave the room. The table went very quiet – never before had she dared to leave without permission or without tidying up after the Dursleys.

"What do you think you are doing?" Vernon demanded about to rise from his seat.

"No, Vernon," hiccupped Marge, holding up a hand, her tiny bloodshot eyes fixed on Aileen who had stopped in the doorway. "Go on, girl, go on. Proud of your parents, are you? They go and get themselves killed in a car crash (drunk, I expect) -"

"They didn't die in a car crash." Aileen stated calmly, ignoring the fear that appeared on Vernon's face.

"They died in a car crash, you nasty little liar, and left you to be a burden on their decent, hardworking relatives!" screamed Marge, swelling with fury. "You are an insolent, ungrateful little -"

"ENOUGH!" Aileen said sharply, her eyes hardening as they narrowed on Marge who chocked on her next words from the shear anger that radiated off Aileen. Never before had any of the Dursley's seen her lose her temper like she did now.

"My father worked for the government, he was one of the youngest members of the Secret Services. My mother was a researcher looking into taking old technology and making it better, more efficient. They didn't die in a car crash, they were murdered by an underground terrorist movement that my father had been helping to fight. If you don't believe me, look up records of car crashes in northern wales. I think you will find that there was none on the night my parents died. Furthermore, my parents didn't want me to go here. They appointed a list of guardians, including my godfather, my godmother, their old school teacher and several of their best friends. Unfortunately none of them could take me in for various different, legitimate reasons. I was placed here because no one would think I was placed with my mother's sister because it was a well-known fact they didn't get on. It meant I was safe from retaliatory attacks from the terrorists when they realised that I survived while their boss died fighting my mother."

Aileen took in a deep breath, calming her magic that was threatening to escape before spinning on her heal and marching down the corridor. "Now if you'll excuse me I am going to a friend's house for the rest of the summer. I have had enough. I've done what I needed to here."

Aileen knew it had been a bad idea leaving the Dursley's in the middle of the night but she honestly didn't care. She would rather face monsters in the middle of the night then spend one more second around her obnoxious relatives. By the time she was a relatively safe distance away from the house, Aileen had completely calmed down. What had been left of her anger was washed away like footprints on a sandy beach.

She finally came to a stop at the corner of Magnolia Crescent where she placed her trunk on the floor and looked around her trying to think of a plan. The bus service had stopped running two hours previously and would not start up again for another four hours. It would be very dangerous for her to wait out on the streets for that amount of time while it was dark.

Suddenly movement in the bushes caught her attention and Aileen spun on the spot, her hand coming to rest on her dagger. From within the bushes a large black dog emerged. Its sparkling eyes locked on her and its mouth pouted, drool falling to the floor. Aileen relaxed and crouched, holding her hand out for the stray.

He barked and bounded up to her. Aileen giggled and began to gently scratch the dog behind the ear. "Good boy." Aileen cooed when the dog rolled over allowing her to rub his belly that had finally gained some weight. As she played with the dog Aileen felt herself relax even more, barely noticing the passage of time.

She had been there for nearly two hours when something else caught her attention. Emerging from the darkness were three bear sized hounds. Their eyes shined with fire and their black fur was covered with blood.

"Stercore!" Aileen swore, standing to face the monsters. Her hands automatically drawing her sword and dagger. The stray dog (who she should really name) wined and tried to push her away from the big dogs. "It's alright boy, these aren't the first monster's I've faced." Aileen said reassuringly to her friend.

He whined again but Aileen leaped forward, charging the bloodhounds before they could move and surround her. The first hound raised its paw to swipe its deadly claws at her but Aileen rolled and cut its paw of. Moving swiftly she blocked the second bloodhound's launch with her dagger while simultaneously cutting the head of the third – turning it to dust. She pushed the one she had blocked back with a great amount of difficulty before spinning and slicing deep into the shoulder of the first one – turning it to dust. Completing the spin Aileen came face to face with a very angry bloodhound.

The hound launched itself at her, and the distance was too short for her to dodge, so Aileen used her sword to stop the beast from biting her but she fell under its weight. While holding the beast off with her sword, Aileen twisted her dagger hand and thrust upwards – turning it to golden dust.

Aileen lay on the ground – taking deep breaths – that had been a close call. If she had raised her sword even a fraction of a second later the hound would have found its mark and she would have been eaten. Aileen was brought out of her thoughts by worried whining and the feel of a rough tongue licking her face. Aileen giggled and pushed the dog of her so that she could get up.

"I need to get out of here – come on boy there's a train station about three mails away from here. We should make it in time for the four o'clock commute into London." Aileen said, resting her hand on the dogs head and beginning to walk. If she stayed on the move there was less of a chance of the monsters finding her, hopefully.

The dog barked happily and bounded happily along beside her.

By the time she made it to the train station the sun had begun to rise and Aileen had decided on a name for her new dog: So̱ti̱ría. So̱ti̱ría means Salvation, which was what the dog was. He was her salvation. When she had first met him, the dog saved her life. She had been caught unawares by three men and if So̱ti̱ría hadn't turned up she shuddered to think what would have happened to her.

Aileen paid for a ticket into London and sat on the train with the few people who were heading to London that early. Normally there was a large number of commuters on the five thirty and six o'clock trains, very few people needed to get the four o'clock train. Luckily no one asked her why she had a dog lying contently on her feet.

Aileen spent the rest of her holiday at the Leakey Cauldron, much to her relief Tom didn't mind having pets inside the building so long as they were house trained. She spent her time relaxing and just having fun (well her idea of fun).

She was up with the sun every morning and running through the streets of London (So̱ti̱ría at her side). She changed the rout daily but always returned to the Leakey Cauldron by six. She would shower and head down to the bar where she then had a breakfast of fruit and porridge (So̱ti̱ría normally eating meat or roasted vegetables from the night before). During breakfast Aileen liked watching the other guests: funny little witches from the country, up for a day's shopping; venerable-looking wizards arguing over the latest article in Transfiguration Today; wild-looking warlocks; raucous dwarfs; and once, what looked suspiciously like a hag, who ordered a plate of raw liver from behind a thick woolen balaclava.

After breakfasts she would venture into Diagon Alley (So̱ti̱ría at her side) and explore. Beside Diagon Alley there was another four side Alleys: Knockturn Alley, Upper Alley, Digamous Alley and Highline Alley.

Knockturn Alley was the Alley that she had accidently found herself going down once and refused to do so again unless she had absolutely no other choice; Upper Alley contained expensive jewellery, cloths and artefact shops; Digamous Alley contained businesses such as solicitors, Daily Prophet and the Nimbus company; finally in Highline Alley you had a row of Muggle-born and Half-blood run shops. They had everything from non-magical cloths, estate agents, and moderately priced jewellery too tattoo parlours, two-way communication mirrors, composes and camping gear (magical and not).

Aileen was very careful with her money, she didn't buy anything she wouldn't need at some point. So she spent money on books, communication mirrors (four sets, as a just in case precaution), potion ingredients, cloths (she had grown since first year), non-magical medicine supplies, bottomless bags and journals where just a few of the essential things she brought.

Aileen went into the Solicitors and spoke with them about all the Aileen Potter books and merchandise that was being sold. She had not been consulted and was not getting any profit. Also the books were being sold as non-fiction. She spoke about getting the merchandise of the shelves, the books genre changed and getting at least five percentage of the profit from now on, and a back dated profit of ten per cent. The solicitor agreed that this was fair enough and that the people should not have done what they did without her consent. Aileen also officially hired the solicitor, Mr Tonks, as her family solicitor because she did not doubt she would be needing him again. He was tasked with staying in contact and updating Griphook since his role was heavily linked with the Law Suit.

As well as dealing with her legal business, she contacted the Goblins. She would spend one or two hours a day inside Gringotts, meeting with both Griphook and Sharpclaw, learning more of her family's finances, the state of her properties, what was being done to rectify any problems, and so forth. Griphook had alerted her to the problem with her parents' home in the village of Godric hallows (of which she owned the land the village sat on), and she put him in contact with Tonks to sue the ministry for stealing property from her. Now she was thirteen she had a bit more power (although not as much as she would have when she turned fifteen) and Tonks and Griphook could work together on behalf of House Potter.

When she was eleventh, Aileen hadn't been given any information regarding the Black family or finance, however it seemed when Sirius Black named her heir he put a safe guard in place. If he wasn't available to monitor the finances, then on her thirteen Aileen was to be given the same access as she would have been allowed at fifteen and fully access and Ladyship at fifteen if he still hadn't claimed his own Lordship or if he had passed away.

During her time in Gringotts she became good friends with the goblins and learned more about their culture than any other human alive; the last time a human was on friendly terms with the goblins like she is, was two hundred years before. She hadn't intended on doing so, but she simply treated Sharpclaw, Griphook and Bloodhammer (the Black account manager) with the proper respect and greeted them as was tradition. Because she had taken the effort to do so, and then treated the three with respect, they decided to slowly correct some of her behaviours (telling her the correct way to address or respond to a goblin in a particularly situation).

Other than wondering the Alleys and visiting Gringotts with So̱ti̱ría, she spent time in her room at the Leakey Cauldron reading. She read through all her school books, the supplementary material she had gotten to go with it, the books Madam Pomfrey asked her to get and had started on her extracurricular reading. This mostly focused on advanced defence, world history, Magical and non-magical law and Psychology. While she was reading her books Aileen would write in the journals she had gotten (one for each subject both school related and not) so that she could look back on any important information without having to read the entire book again. Sometimes she would read entire sections aloud to So̱ti̱ría who appeared to be listening closely to what she was saying.

She also put the final touches to the revision guides for History for each of the seven years at Hogwarts. She was planning on sending a free copy of each to Hogwart's library and another copy to the headmaster, including a note suggesting it be added to the school supply list in order to increase the pass rate for the class. Not wanting the attention it would bring, Aileen decided to use Violet E Black as the author of the books – and opened another vault at Gringotts under this name. However, before she sent copies to Dumbledore and the library, she first needed to get it published.

Although she had finished the revision guides within a day of staying at the Leakey Cauldron (they had just needed to be read through for errors), she held of publishing until she finished her other two books: Basic and Everyday Mundane Inventions and How to Use Them' and 'How to Act Like a Mundane.' Going through Mr Tonks she got in contact with a publisher, once again using her alias. A week before school began her books were on sale and copies of all of them were winging their way to Dumbledore and Hogwarts's library.

With those projects out of the way she had more than enough free time to begin writing a third book that she had been thinking about. This one was about Magical and Non-magical law, comparing the similarities and explaining the history behind each law. Most law books were very dry and dreary but Aileen attempted to make hers more fun and interesting so that people (especially non-magical borns, their families and the wizards who spent a lot of time in both worlds) would actually pick the book up and read it.

Two weeks before school was due to start Aileen had realised that Hogwarts didn't allow dogs as pets so she had sent a letter to the headmaster that read:

To Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore

Headmaster of Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Order of Merlin First Class, Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, Chief Warlock of the Wizagnmont,

Dear Sir, I would first like to mention that you have far too many names and titles to be healthy. Secondly, I hope that you are having a nice holiday and are not being hounded by continuous paper work and letters (no matter how important they may be, you need a break, sir).

The reason I am sending you this letter during the summer holidays is because I have recently adopted a dog. He was a stray dog that lived in my neighbourhood and I started taking care of it. After a while he would not leave me be (he even played with the small children in my neighbourhood just so that he could stay with me when I babysat).

I was hoping that you would grant me permission to bring him to Hogwarts. If you don't want him in the school it's self I am sure that Hagrid would not mind having another helping hound when he goes into the forest.

Looking forward to your reply,

Aileen Potter

Aileen had expected the headmaster to reply to her via letter but three days after she sent it a knock came upon her door. Aileen jumped up from the floor, her hand resting on her wand since it was eight in the morning, and opened the door. Only to blink in shock when she found the headmaster stood outside it. He was dressed rather conservatively (for him anyway) in baby blue robes with golden trims.

"Headmaster, please come in, I had just sent for tea if you would like some?" Aileen said motioning the elder man in and too the two chairs around the fireplace.

"Tea would be lovely, my dear." The headmaster said, nodding his head in thanks as he took in her room.

It was quite simple: a double four poster bed, two bedside tables, a small vanity, a-joining bathroom and a fireplace that she had mention before. However, Aileen had made it quite homely with her books, parchment and other things laying in an orderly mess around a single point on the floor. She would normally sit in the middle and do her work so it was the clearest spot if you don't include her bed, the chairs around the fireplace and the bathroom.

"I see you have made yourself at home." The headmaster commented once they were both sat, cradling a hot cup of tea.

"I've been here three weeks, Sir. I needed something to do and studying seemed to be appropriate." Aileen answered easily causing the headmaster to chuckling.

"I remember walking into your mother's study, not long after she married your father, to find it in a similar state to your floor. She had purposefully made sure that the bookshelves were all against the wall so that she had plenty of floor space to spread out." He informed her. "The large desk was hardly touched."

Aileen's eyes light up in interest at the mention of her mother. She had heard quite a bit about her father, but very few people would mention something about her mother.

"It is nice to see that more of your parent's lived on in you then their looks." The headmaster informed her sadly.

They sat in silence then, Aileen unconsciously stroking So̱ti̱ría when he got up from his spot curled in front of the fire and leaned against her leg. After a few minutes the headmaster broke the silence.

"I take it that this is the dog you were asking permission to bring to Hogwarts?" the headmaster said motioning with his right hand.

"Yes, sir. His name it So̱ti̱ría." Aileen said smiling down at her dog who barked happily and licked Aileen's hand.

"How long have you had him?" the headmaster asked before taking a sip of his tea and smiling brightly at Aileen, "How did you know I liked sugar and caramel?"

"I've had So̱ti̱ría for about four weeks but from the condition he was in when I found him I think he has been on the street for at least seven weeks and was probably poorly treated before then as well. And I know what you like in your tea, Sir, because you always have the same thing every morning: tea with sugar and caramel to go along with your blueberry jam on toast." Aileen answered, easily. So̱ti̱ría whimpered slightly when she mentioned his time before her but Aileen simply scratched him behind the ear and he started panting, his tail waggling happily behind him.

"Do you observe all the teacher's during meal times?" the headmaster asked curiously, his blue eyes twinkling brightly behind his half-moon spectacles.

"Yes," Aileen answered, completely unabashed causing the headmaster to chuckle merrily.

"I am not sure if we should be flattered or unnerved." The headmaster commented, relaxing back into his seat.

"Flattered, it means I pay attention to you." Aileen answered easily.

They fell into silence and Aileen could tell that the headmaster was thinking from the way that he gazed into the fire without really seeing it.

"I believe I can arrange something for So̱ti̱ría. As long as he remains outside of the castle then you may bring him." The headmaster finally said, returning his attention to her.

"Thank you, Headmaster." Aileen said smiling brightly.

"Since he is quite big, I think it will be best if he goes to Hogwarts view Portkey." The headmaster then drew a scarf from his pocket and tapped it with his wand. The scarf glowed blue and he handed it to Aileen. "If you make sure that So̱ti̱ría is touching it by eight o'clock on September first the portkey will activate and take him to the gates of Hogwarts where Hagrid will be waiting for him."

"Thank you, Sir." Aileen said, carefully placing the scarf on the table where it would not be knocked off and lost in her books.

"Why I have a few hours free, do you want to talk about what was bothering you for our meeting instead of waiting until the first Saturday of term?" The Headmaster inquired.

"I think that's a good idea, sir." Aileen agreed, getting up and moving to one of the many stacks of folders. She pulled out the purple folder with Headmaster written on the front before returning to her seat. "I've got several questions to ask," Aileen warned.

"And I'll do my best to answer truthfully, although I may not be able to answer everything." He warned.

"Okay, my first question is: Why did the Wizagnmont sea my parent's will?"

"Ah… I'm not truly certain of their motives for sealing it. I know I tried to stop them, but I was overruled by a majority vote." The headmaster answered sadly.

"Okay," Aileen nodded her acceptance of that answer while So̱ti̱ría growled angrily. Aileen patted her lap, and he jumped up and curled against her immediately. Once he was settled, Aileen ran a calming hand over his fur. "Why did you leave me with the Dursleys?"

"Because your aunt is your last blood relative on your mother's side, and the closest blood relative you have outside of second and third cousins on your father's side. When your mother sacrificed her life, it created a powerful blood protection, and in order to maintain it you needed to live with a blood relative. And with the will sealed, it was to Petunia you would have gone anyway." Dumbledore explained. He had talked about it before, but Aileen decided she wanted all her facts in a line.

"Why did you leave my aunt a letter and even then, why didn't it explain exactly what happened?" Aileen asked next. It was a question she had added to her list after speaking to Petunia the day Marge came to visit.

"Alas, I was being selfish. I only had a few ours, late at night in which I could get you to safety without being followed. And I didn't wish to wake your aunt, nor explain to her the tragedy that had befallen her family. I'm afraid I took the easy way out and left the letter." Dumbledore explained, bowing his head slightly in shame.

"Why did you never come and check up on me?" Aileen asked next.

"Several reasons. The first was that I had promised your aunt miminal contact. The second was because the first three years following the down fall of Voldemort, I was being closely watched. I didn't want to lead anyone who would wish you harm to your doorstep. By the time they had stopped watching me, you were four, nearly five years old and my watcher told me you were a happy, healthy little girl." Dumbledore answered, smiling at her proudly at the last point.

Aileen paused, "Watcher?"

"Ah, yes. Mrs Arabella Figg. I asked her stay watch over you. She moved into Magnolia Crescent only three months after you were left at the Dursleys. She sends me monthly reports on how you were doing."

"Did you never question why I was wearing cloths too big for me, the days I wouldn't leave the house, the amount of chores I did from a young age or the fact that I was so small?" Aileen question confused. She knew she had gotten very good at hiding her abuse, but when she was younger she hadn't been as successful.

"Arabella mentioned that you had a rather odd sense of fashion, but she didn't think it was anything to be concerned with since you started helping out with your neighbours." Dumbledore frowned. "What are you trying to tell me?"

Aileen looked at the man before a moment, trying to ascertain how truthful he was being. "Did you not wander why I had been staying at the Leakey Cauldron for the last three weeks?"

"I assumed you wished to be closer to the magical world and get some shopping done." Dumbledore answered with a blink, having not anticipated the question.

"Headmaster, you run a school. You once taught transfiguration. Surely you can figure out what I'm saying." When Dumbledore still looked confused she sighed. "Headmaster, my uncle is a man who likes normal. Magic isn't normal. I'm not normal. Before I was five and went to school, I didn't even know my name. My first Hogwarts's letter was addressed to the cupboard under the stairs since that was where I slept despite the fact that there were two other bedrooms in the house I could use. You were able to get my uncle a stipend for my care, what you don't know is he never spent a dime of that money on me. He called me a burden, claimed I was taking the food from their mouths. I was forced to work from a very young age, doing the chores around the house. I was even cooking when I turned five. The reason why I helped the neighbours, was because they paid me and I could use some of that money to buy food so I didn't starve to death. The money I didn't spent on food, saved up so I have a means of escape when I came of age. When I learnt I had a fortune, I didn't need to worry about that, although I continue working during the summer holidays so I have easy access to non-magical money and so I could hide my parent's money from my uncle."

While she had been talking the headmaster had been getting steadily paler, and his eyes had widened in shock and horror. The twinkle gone. So̱ti̱ría growled slightly against the arm of the chair, but Aileen's hand stroking his fur, while the other wrapped around him in a hug, kept him still in her lap.

"I had no idea. What about your aunt?" Dumbledore asked after a moment to gather himself.

"She wasn't as bad. She did try and give me food and keep me away from my uncle. But she still resented me for some reason and that stops her from trying too hard to protect me." Aileen answered.

"I'm so sorry, chid. If I had known, I would have interfered a minimum or gotten you out of there if they couldn't be reasoned with." Dumbledore promised.

"I tried to run a way, several times, when I was younger." Aileen admitted. "But I think the Blood wards have warped."

"What do you mean?" Dumbledore asked confused.

"Every time I tried running away, it was like someone was stabbing me in the heart. The further away I got, the more painful it became until I couldn't breathe and I collapsed. When I wake, I was always back in my cupboard. I don't get the same pain when I leave for school, or even when I left for the Leakey Cauldron. It think it's because when I ran away, I had no intention of returning. But when I leave, with the knowledge that I will be coming back, then I don't get pulled back." Aileen explained. "There's also something else. Whenever I tried to defend myself from my uncle, a blue shield would appear, stopping me from fighting back or I would get that same stabbing pain in my heart and my arms would feel like lead."

"That should have happened. The wards were designed to protect you as a priority and your aunt and cousin as a secondary. Your uncle doesn't have a blood relation and should only be protected while in the house. Before I remove you from that house, I will need to study the wards." Dumbledore sighed regretfully.

"I've been trying to research it on my own." Aileen admitted. "But I've been getting nowhere."

"I'll find a way to bring down the wards, while hopefully maintaining the protection from your mother within you. I'll let you know nearing the end of the school year what I've found." Dumbledore vowed.

"Okay." Aileen agreed. "That's brings us to my other questions. Why did you put the Philosopher's stone in the third floor corridor behind traps that my friends and I could get through, instead of in your office, hidden in a draw or something that you put under Fidelius." Aileen questioned.

Dumbledore stared at her a moment before sighing and pinching the bridge of his nose. "In all honestly, my dear such a solution didn't occur to me. Nicolas had contacted me, saying something was trying to get through his wards and take the stone. Because the thing was like a wraith, he feared his wards wouldn't hold out the intruder. So, he transferred the stone to Gringotts while I set up defence at Hogwarts. Since it would be suspicious if I went to Gringotts, I used the introduction of you to the wizarding world as an excuse for Hagrid to be at Gringotts to collect the stone.

When I followed you through the third floor, I noticed that someone had tampered with the traps. You see Filius didn't leave brooms in his room, Minerva had an alert on her chess set to let her know someone was playing so she could act to stop the intruder while the chess set delayed them. This alert was turned off. The logical puzzle by Severus was unchanged, but he didn't provide the potion to get through. They were all poisons that would immediately knock the drinker out. Someone swopped out two of the potions. So, the only things that hadn't been changed was Fluffy, the devil's snare and my own." Dumbledore explained heavily.

"Voldemort wanted me to have followed him and he wanted to the chance to speak with me." Aileen realised.

"Exactly." Dumbledore nodded his head.

"You know, I wouldn't have gone down there if Professor McGonagall had listened to me." Aileen admitted, bowing her head while she focused on So̱ti̱ría who had wined in confusion during their conversation.

"Yes, Minerva was most upset with herself when she realised that you had been injured doing what she should have done. I know she made a personal vow to listen more closely to students that came to her with a problem." Dumbledore nodded his head, his eyes regaining their twinkle.

"Which leads me relatively nicely onto my next question: what is the bully policy at Hogwarts?"

"Well… there isn't one beyond no fighting." Dumbledore blinked in confusion.

"And that's a problem headmaster." Aileen said seriously. "During my first year, me, Neville, Hermione and Ron were ostracized and bullied by our own house following the loss of points for being out of after curfew – and the only reason we didn't lose more points was because I argued with Professor McGonagall – and the points that Fred and George lost for being caught for their prank. The number of times I found Neville or Hermione crying before I shamed our house was ridiculous. And even after that, they didn't stop with the shunning and bullying of my person until after you gave us points for saving the stone. Which I'll come to later."

Aileen took a steadying breathe before she continued. "Last year, when the chamber was opened, I was immediately blamed. This is despite the fact that I had witnesses at the time of the attack in the form of ghosts and my friends. The bullying got worse following Collins attack despite the fact that I was in the hospital wing at the time. Instead of just words, I was being forced to dodge and shield form attacks in the hall way. For nearly six month – from Halloween until I saved Ginny – I was putting up with progressive worse behaviour form the student body. Even when I brought this to Professor McGonagall's attention, or even when something occurred in front of a teacher, nothing was done about it."

"It is the teacher's duty to protect the students of Hogwarts. And that includes from bullying. You should have made an announcement saying I was not the heir of Slytherin last year. You should have come down hard on bullying and proven to them that it's not an acceptable form of behaviour. By doing nothing, your given them permission to continue. And I know I'm not the only one to be on the receiving end of bullying. You should look into Miss Luna Lovegood's time at Hogwarts."

"And then there's the mockery you call a House Cup. Without out set guideless on what behaviour should get or remove points and how many points that should be, it's became superfluous. Like in my first year, Professor McGonagall went to take twenty points of Malfoy for being out after curfew and gave him a detention. She then tried to take fifty, from me and my friends for the same act. Therefore, as a punishment it doesn't work because it's not the same for all students. Then at the end of that year, you award me and my friends with points. If you were going to do that headmaster, you should have done it before the cup was award. It should have been while I was still in the hospital wing. There needs to be cut off point, where points could no longer be reward or taken – for example after the NEWT and OWL student's sit there last exam. You should never have so cruelly taken the cup from the Slytherins because it was like telling that entire house you didn't care about their feelings or their hard work. And it created greater animosity between me and them." Aileen ranted.

"Perhaps you are right. Poppy and Severus have been trying to get me to write a policy for bullying, but I've not seen reason for it. However, the way you speak about it…"

"I got hold of several bullying policies from non-magical primary and secondary schools and adapted it for Hogwarts as an example of what you can use. I would suggest going through it with your senior staff. I've also included guidelines for the point system, which you can add to and change." Aileen pushed the purple folder to the headmaster.

"There's a book in my office which records the amount of points taken and removed, I shall keep a closer eye on it to ensure that the point system is being followed. And perhaps I should introduce an appeal system." The headmaster said thoughtfully as he accepted the folder. "This is a rather large folder…?"

"It's also got a copy of the Hogwarts chart. One is for the students, including all the rules and information about Hogwarts they need to know. The other is for staff, also highlighting rules and codes of conducts." Aileen explained. "I figure it would make your life easier if the students all received a copy so that they knew how they should behave and so they can't claim ignorance as a defence. Since there is so little time before term, you could get copies of it, and the bullying policy and point policy, and leave them on the student's beds the first night. Give a notice that you expect the students to read it and after a week or so you were no longer offer leniency for rule breaking. Then next year, send out the copies to all first year students."

"That is a marvellous idea. Have you ever put thought into being a teacher, my dear? You seem to be doing my job for me already." The Headmaster asked good-naturedly.

"I like the idea of being a teacher once I graduate, but I'm going to see the world first." Aileen admitted.

"I will gladly welcome you at Hogwarts when you are ready." The Headmaster smiled brightly.

"Is there anything else you would like me to look into or change, my dear?" the headmaster question.

"Have you thought about speaking with Gringotts about getting some of their curse breakers and warders to look at Hogwarts's wards and ensure they are working properly? I'm sure they could get rid of the curse on the DADA position." Aileen suggested. It hadn't been one of the things she wanted changed, but now she thought about it, it was a good idea.

"Unfortunately, the Hogwarts's Board refuses to release any funds to do so. They've been cutting back on a lot of things. No new books, no knew plants, limited potion ingredients, no knew brooms, no new equipment. If they won't release money for something Hogwarts's needs, they aren't going to release it for something like checking the wards because there 'might be a problem'." The headmaster said in a tone that clearly said he had had this argument before.

"Headmaster, this is currently a thousand year old basilisk sitting below the school. This includes shed skin, teeth and scales. A basilisk is worth a lot of money. With your permission, I would like to get a team from Gringotts to render the beast, take the shed skins and things and sell it. Then, using the vault I put the money – let's call it the Lily Potter Fund – you can hire cures breakers and wards. You can buy new brooms and equipment. If there isn't enough money, then I'll donate money. I'll even put an aid in the paper explaining that the board is endangering the students with subpar equipment and that I've set up this fund. That will probably lead to other donation." Aileen said with a smirk.

"Although the idea is a marvellous and generous one, my dear. The board will simply take control of the funds and dictate were it goes too."

"Not if I'm the one who controls what happens to it. After all, it will mostly be my money. If you write out a report, saying why you need the funds and how much you need, I'll sign off on it. That way the board can't say anything."

The headmaster laughed. "My dear, you truly have inherited your mother's mind." He complemented while So̱ti̱ría barked happily, his tail wagging excitedly. "If you can set it up, I'll open the doors to the goblins so they can harvest the skin. Say that first Saturday when we were supposed to meet? And I'll begin writing up the expense request, and having my staff doing the same."

"I'll arrange everything with the goblins." Aileen agreed.

"Now I must be off, I suddenly find myself with an awful lot of paperwork to do and a staff meeting to call." The Headmaster said cheerfully getting to his feet.

"I shall see you on September first." The headmaster said in farewell once Aileen showed him to the door.

When the headmaster was gone, Aileen was attacked by So̱ti̱ría who was barking happily and licking her face. Aileen laughed and tried to push to excitable hound of her.

As the days slipped by, and the first day of school drew ever closer,Aileen started looking for a sign of Ron or Hermione. Plenty of Hogwarts students were arriving in Diagon Alley now, with the start of term so near. Aileen met Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas, her fellow Gryffindors, in Quality Quidditch Supplies, where they were ogling the Firebolt (the newest broom on the market that Aileen had spent about five minutes looking though the states of); she also ran into Neville Longbottom outside Flourish and Blotts (she pointed him to the history book she had written since she knew the boy would appreciate the help and it stopped the boy's Grandmother from harassing him).

Aileen woke on the last day of the holidays, thinking that she would at least meet Ron and Hermione tomorrow, on the Hogwarts Express. After her normal run she got dressed, and went for a look at the Quidditch supplies. She had been avoiding the shop because of the people ogling the Firebolt but she needed some knew gloves. Aileen was just thinking about returning to her room to check on So̱ti̱ría (he had started throwing up the day before so Aileen confided the dog to her room until he was feeling better) when someone yelled her name and she turned.

"Aileen! Aileen!"

They were there, both of them, sitting outside Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor - Ron looking incredibly freckly, Hermione very brown, both waving frantically at her.

"Finally!" said Ron, grinning at Aileen as she sat down. "We went to the Leaky Cauldron, but they said you'd left, and we went to Flourish and Blotts, and Madam Malkin's, and -"

"I got all my school stuff a couple of weeksago," Aileen explained. "And how come you knew I'm staying at the Leaky Cauldron?"

"Dad," said Ron simply.

"How did your dad know I was at the Leakey Cauldron?" Aileen asked confused, not really catching on to what he was saying.

"Kingsley Shacklebolt told him." Ron shrugged carelessly.

"Did you really defy the Minister, Aileen?" said Hermione in a very serious voice.

A couple of days into Aileen's stay the minister had turned up at the Leakey Cauldron and attempted to convince Aileen to return to the Dursleys. Aileen had adamantly refused to go back so the minister had then tried to get her to stay in the magical world. Aileen had simply laughed at the man and informed him that the only way they were going to confine her to the magical world was if she was under house arrest which he didn't have the authority to place her under without do cause and warrant (she well remembered what he had tried to do to Hagrid).

"Yes," said Aileen simply, while Ron roared with laughter.

"It's not funny, Ron," said Hermione sharply.

"Ron, was Shacklebolt one of the aura's that accompanied the Minister when he came to speak with me?" Aileen asked. She remembered the three uniformed auras and another three dressed in normal cloths attempting (and failing) to blend in.

"I'm not sure but you can ask Dad yourself, this evening. We're staying at the Leaky Cauldron tonight too! So you can come to King's Cross with us tomorrow! Hermione's there as well!"

Hermione nodded, beaming. "Mum and Dad dropped me off this morning with all my Hogwarts things."

"Excellent!" said

Aileen happily. "So, have you got all your new books and stuff?"

"Look at this," said Ron, pulling a long thin box out of a bag and opening it. "Brand-new wand. Fourteen inches, willow, containing one unicorn tail-hair. And we've got all our books -" He pointed at a large bag under his chair. "What about those Monster Books, eh? The assistant nearly cried when we said we wanted two."

"What's all that, Hermione?" Aileen asked, pointing at not one but three bulging bags in the chair next to her.

"Well, I'm taking more new subjects than you, aren't I," said Hermione. "Those are my books for Arithmancy, Care of Magical Creatures, Divination, the Study of Ancient Runes, Muggle Studies -"

"What are you doing Muggle Studies for?" said Ron, rolling his eyes at

Aileen. "You're Muggle-born! Your mum and dad are Muggles! You already know all about Muggles!"

"But it'll be fascinating to study them from the wizarding point of view," said Hermione earnestly.

"Hermione that's only two more books then what I brought for school. I'm taking the same lessons as you minus Divination and Muggle Studies. Those two classes only need one book. How many supplementary texts did you buy?" Aileen asked, frowning.

"Well I brought three for each subject. And then, I found these new history books. Each one claims to cover each year and is better than the assigned history texts because it's actually tailored to the exams. I brought the first four books." Hermione answered brightly.

"Hermione, are you planning to eat or sleep at all this year?" asked Aileen generally worried for her friend's health. If she tried to do all those lessons and read all those extra books she would burn out since she sleeps all through the night unlike Aileen who only got a couple of hours. Ron sniggeredobviously not thinking Aileen was generally concerned, but was instead making a joke about the amount Hermione liked to study. Hermione ignored them, probably thinking the same thing as Ron.

"I've still got ten Galleons," she said, checking her purse. "It's my birthday in September, and Mum and Dad gave me some money to get myself an early birthday present."

"How about a nice book?" said Ron innocently.

"No, I don't think so," said Hermione composedly. "I really want an owl. I mean, Aileen's got Hedwig and you've got Errol -"

"I haven't," said Ron. "Errol's a family owl. All I've got is Scabbers." He pulled his pet rat out of his pocket. "And I want to get him checked over," he added, placing Scabbers on the table in front of them. "I don't think Egypt agreed with him." Scabbers was looking thinner than usual, and there was a definite droop to his whiskers.

"Hermione, you know you can borrow Hedwig any time? She doesn't get a lot of exercise." Aileen told her friend. She always felt bad about the fact that Hermione had no way of contacting her parents. Perhaps, if Hermione didn't get an owl, she would buy her parents one so that they could contact their daughter during the term without having to wait for Hermione to contact them.

"I know, but I know you have important letters to send." Hermione pointed out, recalling the time when Aileen had contacted Gringotts outside of their scheduled once a month letter because they had discovered the Godric's Hallows cottage had been stolen. Normally, Aileen didn't let her Gringotts correspondence be seen because they wrote it to Alessa Evens instead of Aileen Potter and she didn't want to answer any questions about it. Which reminds her, she forgot to ask the headmaster about her mail.

"There's a magical creature shop just over there," Aileen pointed out, choosing to drop the subject. "You could see if they've got anything for Scabbers, and Hermione can get her owl."

So they paid for their ice cream and crossed the street to the Magical Menagerie.

There wasn't much room inside. Every inch of wall was hidden by cages. It was smelly and very noisy because the occupants of these cages were all squeaking, squawking, jabbering, or hissing. The witch behind the counter was already advising a wizard on the care of double-ended newts, so Aileen, Ron, and Hermione waited, examining the cages.

A pair of enormous purple toads sat gulping wetly and feasting on dead blowflies. A gigantic tortoise with a jewel-encrusted shell was glittering near the window. Poisonous orange snails were oozing slowly up the side of their glass tank, and a fat white rabbit kept changing into a silk top hat and back again with a loud popping noise. Then there were cats of every colour, a noisy cage of ravens, a basket of funny custard-coloured furballs that were humming loudly, and on the counter, a vast cage of sleek black rats that were playing some sort of skipping game using their long, bald tails.

The double-ended newt wizard left, and Ron approached the counter.

"It's my rat," he told the witch. "He's been a bit off-colour ever since I brought him back from Egypt."

"Bang him on the counter," said the witch, pulling a pair of heavy black spectacles out of her pocket.

Ron lifted Scabbers out of his inside pocket and placed him next to the cage of his fellow rats, who stopped their skipping tricks and scuffled to the wire for a better took.

Like nearly everything Ron owned, Scabbers the rat was second hand (he had once belonged to Ron's brother Percy) and a bit battered. Next to the glossy rats in the cage, he looked especially woebegone.

"Hm," said the witch, picking up Scabbers. "How old is this rat?"

"Dunno," said Ron. "Quite old. He used to belong to my brother." Aileen frowned suddenly realising she didn't know the exact age of the rat. Rats generally didn't last more than four years (at the most) but the way Ron spoke, it was like the rat had been in his family much longer than that.

"What powers does he have?" said the witch, examining Scabbers closely.

"Er -" The truth was that Scabbers had never shown the faintest trace of interesting powers. The witch's eyes moved from Scabbers's tattered left ear to his front paw, which had a toe missing, and tutted loudly.

"He's been through the mill, this one," she said.

"He was like that when Percy gave him to me," said Ron defensively causing Aileen to frown even more.

"An ordinary common or garden rat like this can't be expected to live longer than three years or so," said the witch. "Now, if you were looking for something a bit more hard-wearing, you might like one of these -"

She indicated the black rats, who promptly started skipping again. Ron muttered, "Show-offs."

"Well, if you don't want a replacement, you can try this rat tonic," said the witch, reaching under the counter and bringing out a small red bottle.

"Okay," said Ron. "How much - OUCH!"

Ron buckled as something huge and orange came soaring from the top of the highest cage, landed on his head, and then propelled itself, spitting madly, at Scabbers.

"NO, CROOKSHANKS, NO!" cried the witch, but Scabbers shot from between her hands like a bar of soap, landed splay-legged on the floor, and then scampered for the door.

"Scabbers!" Ron shouted, racing out of the shop after him.

Moving quickly, Aileen swooped down and grabbed the orange fur-ball around the middle and pulled it up into her arms. Being careful of the sharp claws Aileen secured the cat in her arms and gently started running her thump down its neck to calm it.

It took a few moments for the cat to go limp and start purring in her arms. By this time Ron had taken of out the shop in pursuit of his rat.

"He's gorgeous." Hermione cooed, reaching her hand out and stocking the cat. Aileen raised a sceptical eyebrow at that. The cat's ginger fur was thick and fluffy, but it was bowlegged and its face looked grumpy and oddly squashed, as though it had run headlong into a brick wall.

Hermione turned to the shop keeper who was staring at Crookshanks and Aileen in shock.

"How much?" Hermione demanded, drawing her purse out from her pocket.

The shop keeper spluttered for a second, obviously still shocked about something before answering.

While Hermione brought the things she needed and discussed how to car for the cat, Aileen disappeared not the shelves. When Hermione left with her new pet, she approached the counter with a beautiful English barn owl (something that wouldn't stand out if seen roosting in the granger's garden). Once she had everything for the owl, Aileen asked the owner to shrink it. Using the gift parchment that the owner had, Aileen wrote a letter to Mr and Mrs Granger, explaining the purpose of the owl, before she released the bird, brought Ron's rat tonic and left to find her friends.

"What took you so long?" Hermione asked, when Aileen emerged from the shop. The girl had obviously been struggling with her many bags and Crookshanks.

Aileen took the cat from Hermione so she could more easily carry her bags. "I was getting Ron's rat tonic and the instructions on how to use it." Aileen lied. "Come on, let's go find Ron."

By the time they found their friend, he had captured Scabbers and shoved him back into an inner pocket of his robes.

"You bought that monster?" said Ron, his mouth hanging open.

"He's gorgeous, isn't he?" said Hermione, glowing as she looked at the cat that was purring contentedly in Aileen's arms.

"Hermione, that thing nearly scalped me!" said Ron.

"He didn't mean to, did you, Crookshanks?" said Hermione, scratching him behind the ear.

"And what about Scabbers?" said Ron, pointing at the lump in his chest pocket. "He needs rest and relaxation! How's he going to get it with that thing around?"

"Stop worrying, Crookshanks will be sleeping in my dormitory and Scabbers in yours, what's the problem? Poor Crookshanks, that witch said he'd been in there for ages; no one wanted him." Hermione cooed to her cat.

"Wonder why," said Ron sarcastically as they set off toward the Leaky Cauldron.

"Ron I've got your tonic." Aileen informed her firend when it seemed like the argument had come to an end.

"Thanks, Aileen. I'll pay you back when we get to the Leakey Cauldron." Rom promised.

"No, it's okay. It didn't cost much." Aileen waved him away. "Use the money for something else, like a new shirt or something."

"Okay." Ron agreed after a moment of thought.

They found Mr. Weasley sitting in the bar, reading the Daily Prophet.

"Aileen!" he said, smiling as he looked up. "How are you?"

"I'm well, how are you Mr Weasley?" Aileen said as she,Ron and Hermione joinedhim.

Mr. Weasley put down his paper, and Aileen saw the now familiar picture of Sirius Black staring up at her.

"They still haven't caught him, then?" she asked,

stroking Crookshanks thoughtfully.

"No," said Mr. Weasley, looking extremely grave. "They've pulled us all off our regular jobs at the Ministry to try and find him, but no luck so far."

"Would we get a reward if we caught him?" asked Ron. "It'd be good to get some more money -"

"Don't be ridiculous, Ron," said Mr. Weasley, who on closer inspection looked very strained. "Black's not going to be caught by a thirteen-year-old wizard. It's the Azkaban guards who'll get him back, you mark my words."

At that moment Mrs. Weasley entered the bar, laden with shopping bags and followed by the twins, Fred and George, who were about to start their fifth year at Hogwarts; the newly elected Head Boy, Percy; and the Weasleys youngest child and only girl, Ginny.

Percy held out his hand solemnly as though he and Aileen had never met and said, "Aileen. How nice to see you."

"Good afternoon Percy, I trust that you are well?" Aileen said calmly and just as upper-class-manly shifting Crookshanks so that she could take his hand.

"Indeed, I am. And yourself." He continued pompously, shaking hands.

"I am most well, my fine gentlemen." Aileen said before locking eyes with Percy and they both fell into laughter confusing the other Weasleys. Once they had got their laughter under control Aileen continued, but spoke normally. "I'm glad you got the Head boy spot, Percy."

It was then that Fred and George stepped up on either side of Percy and bowed low to Aileen.

"Aileen," Fred began.

"Little Raven" George continued.

"It's an honour to be in your presence;"

"You, who have faced Dark Lords,"

"Great Snakes,"

"And told off the Minister."

"Our Little Raven, growing into a great warrior." They finished together.

"That's enough, now," said Mrs. Weasley, depositing her shopping in an empty chair. "Hello, Aileen, dear. I suppose you've heard our exciting news?" She pointed to the brand-new silver badge on Percy's chest. "Second Head Boy in the family!" she said, swelling with pride.

"And last," Fred muttered under his breath.

"I don't doubt that," said Mrs. Weasley, frowning suddenly. "I notice they haven't made you two prefects."

"What do we want to be prefects for?" said George, looking revolted at the very idea. "It'd take all the fun out of life."

Ginny giggled.

"You want to set a better example for your sister!" snapped Mrs. Weasley.

"Ginny's got other brothers to set her that example, Mother," said Percy stopping his mother from going into a rant. "I'm going up to change for dinner..."

He disappeared and George heaved a sigh mock sigh of annoyance.

"We tried to shut him in a pyramid," he told Aileen. "But Mum spotted us."

Although she wanted to spend some time with the Weasley, Aileen headed up to her room to check on So̱ti̱ría after returning Crookshanks to his owner. So̱ti̱ría was better than he had been that morning, but still wasn't completely well. After sitting with him for a while, and making sure he had enough water Aileen regretfully returned to the dining room.

Dinner that night was a very enjoyable affair. Tom the innkeeper put three tables together in the parlour, and the seven Weasleys, Aileen, and Hermione ate their way through five delicious courses (Aileen was grateful she hadn't had to cut her food portions at all that summer because she was able to eat a decent amount, although less than a normal person would have been able to eat and definitely less then what the Weasleys could eat).

"How're we getting to King's Cross tomorrow, Dad?" asked Fred as they dug into a sumptuous chocolate pudding.

"The Ministry's providing a couple of cars," said Mr. Weasley.

Everyone looked up at him.

"Why?" Percy said confused as to why the ministry would offer their limited number of cars to them.

"It's because of you, Perce," said George seriously. "And there'll be little flags on the hoods, with HB on them-"

"-for Humongous Bighead," said Fred.

Everyone except Mrs. Weasley snorted into their pudding while Percy just rolled his eyes. He knew what the twins were doing – when Percy had first been named Prefect he had gone very over the top and the twins were reminding him that he was no better than them just because he had a position of power.

"Why are the Ministry providing cars, Father?" Percy asked again.

"Well, as we haven't got one anymore," said Mr. Weasley, "and as I work there, they're doing me a favour..."

His voice was casual, but Aileen couldn't help noticing that Mr. Wesley's ears had gone red, just like Ron's did when he was under pressure or lying.

"Good thing, too," said Mrs. Weasley briskly. "Do you realize how much luggage you've all got between you? A nice sight you'd be on the Muggle Underground...You are all packed, aren't you?"

"Ron hasn't put all his new things in his trunk yet," said Percy, in a long-suffering voice. "He's dumped them on my bed."

"You'd better go and pack properly, Ron, because we won't have much time in the morning," Mrs. Weasley called down the table. Ron scowled at Percy.

After dinner everyone felt very full and sleepy. One by one they made their way upstairs to their rooms to check their things for the next day. Ron and Percy were next door to

Aileen so she stopped Percy before he could enter his room and shout at Ron for not having his things packed yet.

"What can I do for you Aileen?" Percy asked curiously.

"I was wondering how old you were when you got Scabbers?" Aileen asked softly.

"Five years old. It was just after You-Know-Whose-Defeat. Why?" Percy answered.

"I'm concerned about Scabbers. I think that the rat's finally dyeing of old age." Aileen answered.

"Indeed, I would not be surprised if that was the case. Rats don't normally have long lifespans do they?" Percy frowned. "I'll keep an eye on Ron and let the twins know."

"Thanks, and goodnight." Aileen smiled.

Aileen slipped into her room and walked to So̱ti̱ría who was lying on the floor. He was looking much better, and there was no knew puddles of puke in the bathroom (So̱ti̱ría was trained enough to go to the bathroom but not enough to actual puke in the bath or toilet). When he spotted her, So̱ti̱ría barked happily.

"Hay boy, how you doing?" Aileen asked. In reply So̱ti̱ría rolled on to his back and looked at Aileen with pleading eyes. Aileen giggled and started to rub the dog's belly. It seems So̱ti̱ría was completely fine.

Once So̱ti̱ría had calmed down Aileen sat by his side, her hand gently rubbing circles on his neck as she thought allowed.

"There's something going on, So̱ti̱ría. I don't know what it is yet or how it's connected but I know there is something. People are worried about my safety, especially the ministry. Sirius Black has escaped from Azkaban after twelve years, for reasons that I don't know. I've looked into Sirius's past, into his relationship with my mum and father and into his trial. Like the goblins I never found a record of his trail. All I could find was that he was best mates with my father, like a brother. That people were completely shocked to find he was working for Voldemort. They blamed it on his Black Heritage, said there was no such thing as a white sheep in the Black Family. And I doubt my parents would have named Sirius Black my godfather if they even remotely suspected him of working for Voldemort."

Aileen sighed and leaned her head on So̱ti̱ría. "And then there's Scabbers. A rat that has lived twelve years. A rat that was found just after the fall of Voldemort…." Aileen trailed of. There was a connection there, she knew it, but she didn't have all the pieces. She couldn't figure it out because she just did not have enough information.

Aileen was pulled from her thoughts by the loud grumbled of So̱ti̱ría's stomach. Aileen giggled and got to her feet. "I'll go and get you something to eat." Aileen said and walked easily across her room for the first time since she had brought all her books. She had packed everything up before they had gone down to dinner.

Aileen had just stepped out into the corridor when she heard angry shouting. The door of number twelve was ajar and Percy was shouting.

"It was here, on the bedside table, I placed it there out of the way-"

"I haven't touched it, all right?" Ron roared back.

"What's up?" said Aileen leaning in the doorway.

"My family photo is gone," said Percy, rounding on Aileen.

"So's Scabbers's Rat Tonic," said Ron, throwing things out of his trunk to look. "I think I might've left it in the bar-"

"You're not going anywhere till you've found my photo!" yelled Percy.

"Enough you two; I'll get Scabbers's stuff, while you to both empty your trunks. Create one _neat_ pile each and go through everything. Maybe one of you accidently packed the photo." Aileen said before she turned and headed down the stairs.

Aileen was halfway along the passage to the bar, which was now very dark, when she heard another pair of angry voices coming from the parlour. A second later, she recognized them as Mr. and Mrs. Weasleys. She hesitated, not wanting them to know she'd heard them arguing, when the sound of her own name made her stop, then move closer to the parlour door.

"...makes no sense not to tell her," Mr. Weasley was saying heatedly. "Aileen's got a right to know. I've tried to tell Fudge, but he insists on treating Aileen like a child. She's thirteen years old and -"

"Arthur, the truth would terrify her!" said Mrs. Weasley shrilly. "Do you really want to send Aileen back to school with that hanging over her? For heaven's sake, she's happy not knowing!"

"I don't want to make her miserable, I want to put her on her guard!" retorted Mr. Weasley. "You know what Aileen, Hermione and Ron are like, wandering off by themselves - they've ended up in the Forbidden Forest twice!"

Aileen grimaced at the reminder of her second visited to the Forbidden Forest. She and Ron had been taking Fang for a walk because Hagrid was busy and spotted Mr Weasley's car in the Forrest so they had followed it. Unfortunately they had lost it and ended up captured by Acromantulas. Aileen had talked the spiders into releasing the tight grip on them but when Aragon, the head Acromantula, had ordered them to be eaten Aileen had drawn her wand and dagger and began fighting. She would have been overwhelmed had the car not turned up and saved them. Ron had been knocked out, and if it wasn't for the timely intervention of a centaur, Aileen wouldn't have been able to get Ron out of their and hold off the spiders. The only upside to the night had been that she didn't have to explain her dagger to Ron – or her ability to use it.

"But Aileen mustn't do that this year!" Mr Weasley had continued. "When I think what could have happened to her that night she ran away from home! If she hadn't had the common sense to make her way here, I'm prepared to bet she would have been dead before the Ministry or Dumbledore found her."

"But she's not dead, she's fine, so what's the point -"

"Molly, they say Sirius Black's mad, and maybe he is, but he was clever enough to escape from Azkaban, and that's supposed to be impossible. It's been five, nearly six weeks, and no one's seen hide nor hair of him, and I don't care what Fudge keeps telling the Daily Prophet, we're no nearer catching Black than inventing self-spelling wands. The only thing we know for sure is what Black's after -"

"But Aileen will be perfectly safe at Hogwarts."

"We thought Azkaban was perfectly safe. If Black can break out of Azkaban, he can break into Hogwarts."

"But no one's really sure that Black's after Aileen -"

There was a thud on wood, and Aileen was sure Mr. Weasley had banged his fist on the table.

"Molly, how many times do I have to tell you? They didn't report it in the press because Fudge wanted it kept quiet, but Fudge went out to Azkaban the night Black escaped. The guards told Fudge that Blacks been talking in his sleep for a while now. Always the same words: "They're at Hogwarts...They're at Hogwarts." Black is deranged, Molly, and he wants Aileen dead. If you ask me, he thinks murdering Aileen will bring You-Know-Who back to power. Black lost everything the night Aileen stopped You-Know-Who, and he's had twelve years alone in Azkaban to brood on that..."

There was a silence. Aileen frowned that's just one more piece to the puzzle.

"Well, Arthur, you must do what you think is right. But you're forgetting Albus Dumbledore. I don't think anything could hurt Aileen at Hogwarts while Dumbledore's Headmaster. I suppose he knows about all this?"

"Of course he knows. We had to ask him if he minds the Azkaban guards stationing themselves around the entrances to the school grounds. He wasn't happy about it, but he had no choice but to agree."

"Not happy? Why shouldn't he be happy, if they're there to catch Black?"

"Dumbledore isn't fond of the Azkaban guards," said Mr. Weasley heavily. "Nor am I, if it comes to that...but when you're dealing with a wizard like Black, you sometimes have to join forces with those you'd rather avoid."

"If they save Aileen -"

"Then I will never say another word against them," said Mr. Weasley wearily. "It's late, Molly, we'd better go up..."

Aileen heard chairs move. As quietly as she could, she hurried down the passage to the bar and out of sight. The parlour door opened, and a few seconds' later footsteps told her that Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were climbing the stairs.

The bottle of rat tonic was lying under the table they had sat at earlier. Aileen got the food Tom had ready for her dog, then headed back upstairs with the bottle and bowl.

Aileen went into Percy and Ron's room to see them glaring at each other as they continued to empty their trunks. Ron's pile was a complete mess: Aileen would have had trouble finding a book in that pile, never none a picture. Percy's pile was much neater and orderly, everything piled in a sensible order

Aileen handed Ron his tonic and while he went to give Scabber his medicine she knelt between Ron's trunk (now empty) and the pile and began putting everything back. She started with Ron's books, which she flicked through to make sure that the picture wasn't caught in any; then she did the robes, shaking them out and re-folding them. It was as she was going through the large bundle of parchment that Ron had that something fell to the floor. Aileen bound the parchment and placed it in the trunk before picking up the thin piece of plastic that had fallen.

It was a black case, with golden engraving on the front that read: _Genus est maxime divitias mundi, non deseram_. Aileen easily translated it to: _Family is the most important treasure in the world: don't let it go_. Opening it Aileen saw two pictures: on the left was a picture of the entire Weasley family from the age of everyone in the photo and the sand in the background, Aileen assumed it was taken that summer while they were in Egypt. There were photos behind it, so Aileen assumed that Percy added a new phot every year since he got the album. On the other side was a picture of Percy and a girl with long, curly blond hair. She was quite tall and her features were tanned. Her eyes lit up and Aileen noticed a few freckles as she smiled lovingly up at Percy before leaning up and kissing him on the cheek. It was Percy's girlfriend: Penelope Clearwater.

Aileen finished packing the last of Ron's stuff and returned Percy's photo to him (prompting the older boy to hug her in relief) before she returned to her own room, fed So̱ti̱ría and had a quick wash and heading to bed.

Word Count: 17,613

Copied: 4,777

Edited: 06/09/2017


	20. Chapter 20: Dementors Edited

Okay, lets start with: I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER. I'm just happily playing in JK's sand box. I DON'T OWN PERCY JACKSON either. I'm only allowed to play on the swing sets (pouts).

So, the next thing on my list of things to put on the top of this story: I've used a lot of the book structure of the first four years. By this I mean Aileen will be face a troll, save a dragon, go down the third floor, be blamed for opening the chamber, reveal her parseltongue abilities in the dueling club, save Ginny and kill the basilisk, and confront Sirius at the end of third year. Aileen will also be entered into the goblet, however she will be complete the tasks completely differently to Harry. If you don't like stories that do this then this isn't the story for you. Although I divert most majorly from the story line after book four, there are points through the first four years were Aileen dose something that Harry would never do because that is the way I've portrayed my character.

And finally, I have heavily edited the first twenty four chapters. You need to re-read the entire story to understand what happens after that point because it all ties together. By heavily edited, I mean nearly 40% of my story has completely been re-written. There is better characterization, more realistic sword skills and a little bit more on the emotional explanation of my character.

* * *

Chapter 20: Year three: Dementors

The next morning Aileen woke at her normal time of four o'clock. However, instead of her normal run, she did some push up, sit ups, crunches and bunny hops. So̱ti̱ría watch her do all this through sleepy eyes, huffing in laughter at how she looked but not making the effort to get up since Aileen wasn't going for her run (Aileen thought the only reason he joined her for her runs was to keep her safe because So̱ti̱ría liked his sleep).

Once she was done with that she showered and change into the cloths she had set out the night before. A pair of black jeans, a tight long-sleeved green shirt and black hoody. She also pulled on some boots that went up the back of her calf and had a one inch block heal (something she had decided to wear when she realised that some of the first years were taller than her).

She double checked that everything she owned was in her trunk and then sat on the windowsill, cup of tea in hand and gently stroked So̱ti̱ría's fur. He already had the scarf tied round his neck so that he could be whisked of too Hogwarts.

"I'll come find you at Hogwarts as soon as I can. But you'll be in safe hands. Hagrid's very big but he's gentle and honest. He'll take good care of you." Aileen whispered to So̱ti̱ría just before the portkey activated and he disappeared.

Aileen had just placed her tea cup back on the tray to be taken back down to the kitchens when Ron barged his way into the room, pulling a sweatshirt over his head and looking irritable. Aileen raised an eyebrow at the rudeness of the boy. She hoped he didn't go around doing that to his family – especially Ginny. The only reason she wasn't too upset was because she was always up early and wore cloths that covered her body (but more importantly the scars she had).

"The sooner we get on the train, the better," he said. "At least I can get away from Percy at Hogwarts. Now he's accusing me of dripping tea on his photo of Penelope Clearwater. You know," Ron grimaced, "his girlfriend. She's hidden her face under the frame because her nose has gone all blotchy..."

"Ron, you don't drink tea." Aileen said frowning.

Before Ron could reply they were interrupted by Fred and George, who had looked in to congratulate Ron on infuriating Percy again. Unintentionally informing Aileen that they were the ones to spill something on Percy's photo (most likely as pay back for keeping them up the night before by shouting). Fred and George had gotten closer to Percy in the last year or so in their aim to help Ginny, but they would still prank him if Percy over stepped his bounds or did something to annoy them.

As a group, they all went down to the bar for breakfast. Mr Weasley was up and reading the Daily Prophet with a frown while Mrs Weasley was talking with Hermione and Ginny. When they walked passed, Aileen caught the words love potion and motioned the boys over to their father, figuring that they wouldn't want to over hear the conversation.

During the normal chaos that was the Weasley's preparing to leave, Aileen didn't have the time to stop her friends and talk with them. With careful manoeuvring, they got everyone's trunks down the Leaky Cauldron's narrow and winding staircase, stacking them next to the door. Luckily, so early in the morning there was very few patrons in the pub, but Aileen noticed that there were several Auras sat around watching them – including the tall black man who had been with the Minister (and was the only one currently dressed in uniform and managing to look like he was only there for breakfast with his companion (who had mostly succeed in being as casual as her companion although her eyes kept following Aileen instead of looking at her partner). Since Aileen had already sent Hedwig off, there was only Percy's owl and Hermione's cat to cage and place with the trunks. Hermes was quite, and complacent despite the noise going on around him, but Crookshanks was hissing and spitting loudly in displeasure at being placed in a wickerwork basket.

"It's all right, Crookshanks," Hermione cooed through the wickerwork. "I'll let you out on the train."

"You won't," snapped Ron. "What about poor Scabbers, eh?"

He pointed at his chest, where a large lump indicated that Scabbers was curled up in his pocket.

Mr. Weasley, who had been outside waiting for the Ministry cars, stuck his head inside.

"They're here," he said. "Aileen, come on."

Mr. Weasley marched Aileen across the short stretch of pavement toward the first of two old-fashioned darkgreen cars, each of which was driven by a furtive-looking wizard wearing a suit of emerald velvet.

"In you get, Aileen," said Mr. Weasley, glancing up and down the crowded street.

Aileen rolled her eyes discreetly in annoyance but got into the back ofthe carand was shortly joined by Hermione, Ron, and, to Ron's disgust, Percy. To stop any potential arguments on the way Aileen swopped seats with Ron. She didn't understand Ron's problem with Percy – even the twins got along with him now and they despised most people with any kind of power over them.

Since they were being driven by ministry cars they arrived at the station on time. The Ministrydriversfound them trolleys, unloaded their trunks, touched their hats in salute to Mr. Weasley, and drove away, using magic to jump to the head of an unmoving line at thetrafficlights.

Mr. Weasley keptcloseto Aileen's elbow all the way into the station, as though he was acting as her guard.

"Right then," he said, glancing around them. "Let's do this in pairs, as there are so many of us. I'll go through first with Aileen."

Mr. Weasley strolled toward the barrier between platforms nine and ten, pushing Aileen's trolley and apparently very interested in the InterCity 125 that had just arrived at platform nine. With a meaningful look at Aileen, he leaned casually against the barrier. Aileen imitated him.

In a moment, they had fallen sideways through the solid metal onto platform nine and three-quarters and looked up to see the Hogwarts Express, a scarlet steam engine, puffing smoke over a platform packed with witches and wizards seeing their children onto the train.

Percy and Ginny suddenly appeared behind Aileen. They were panting and had apparently taken the barrier at a run.

"Ah, there's Penelope!" said Percy, smoothing his hair and robes out nervously. Ginny caught Aileen's eye, and they both turned away to hide their laughter as Percy strode over to a girl with long, curly hair.

Once the remaining Weasleys and Hermione had joined them, Aileen and Mr. Weasley led the way to the end of the train, past packed compartments, to a carriage that looked quite empty. They loaded the trunks onto it, stowed Hermes and Crookshanks in the luggage rack, then went back outside to say goodbye to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.

Mrs. Weasley kissed all her children, then Hermione, and finally Aileen. She was embarrassed, but really quite pleased, when she gave her an extra hug.

"Do take care, won't you Aileen?" she said as she straightened up, her eyes oddly bright. Then she opened her enormous handbag and said, "I've made you all sandwiches. Here you are, Ron...no, they're not corned beef... Fred? Where's Fred? Here you are dear..."

"Aileen," said Mr. Weasley quietly, "come over here for a moment."

He jerked his head towards a pillar, and Aileen followed him behind it, leaving the others crowded around Mrs. Weasley.

"There's something I've got to tell you before you leave -" said Mr. Weasley in a tense voice.

"It's all right, Mr. Weasley," said Aileen, "I already know."

"You know? How could you know?"

"I heard you and Mrs. Wesley talking last night. I couldn't help hearing," Aileen added quickly. "Sorry, but my name and Sirius Black's was mentioned in the sentence and that caught my interest."

"That's not the way I'd have chosen for you to find out," said Mr. Weasley looking anxious.

"No, honestly it's OK. This way, you haven't broken your word to Fudge and I know what's going on." Aileen tried to comfort the troubled man.

"Aileen, you must be scared -"

"I'm not," said Aileen sincerely. "Really," she added, because Mr. Weasley was looking disbelieving. After all she was a thirteen year old girl with two years of magical experiencing, with a mass murder who worked for the worst Dark Lord Britain had seen in centuries: any normal person would be scared. But she wasn't, and she had several reasons to not be. "I'm not trying to be a hero, but seriously, Sirius Black can't be worse than Lord Voldemort, can he?"

Mr. Weasley flinched at the sound of the name, but overlooked it.

"Aileen, I knew you were, well, made of stronger stuff than Fudge seems to think, and I'm obviously pleased that you're not scared, but -"

"Arthur!" called Mrs. Weasley, who was now shepherding the rest onto the train. "Arthur, what are you doing? It's about to go!"

"She's coming Molly!" said Mr. Weasley, but he turned back to.

Before he could say anything Aileen spoke. "I'm not going to hunt him down, Mr Weasley. I'll stay out of trouble the best I can, I promise." Aileen said, guessing what the man wanted to ask of her.

There was a loud whistle. Guards were walking along the train, slamming all the doors shut. Steam was billowing from the train it had started to move; Aileen quickly ran to the train and jumped into the compartment where Ron had thrown the door open for her. They then leaned out of the window and waved at Mr and Mrs Weasley until the train turned a corner and blocked them from view.

"I need to talk to you in private," Aileen muttered to Ron and Hermione as the train picked up speed.

"Go away, Ginny," said Ron.

"Oh, that's nice," said Ginny huffily, and she stalked off.

Aileen, Ron, and Hermione set off down the corridor, looking for an empty compartment, but all were full except for the one at the very end of the train.

This had only one occupant, a man sitting fast asleep next to the window. Aileen, Ron, and Hermione checked on the threshold. The Hogwarts Express was usually reserved for students and they had never seen an adult there before, except for the witch who pushed the food cart.

The stranger was wearing an extremely shabby set of wizard's robes that had been darned in several places. He looked ill and exhausted. Though quite young, his light brown hair was flecked with grey and Aileen noticed a scar that ran down the side of his face, just under the eye.

"Who d'you reckon he is?" Ron hissed as they sat down and slid the door shut, taking the seats farthest away from the window (Aileen sitting next to the man).

"Professor R. J. Lupin." whispered Hermione at once.

"How'd you know that?"

"It's on his case," she replied, pointing at the luggage rack over the man's head, where there was a small, battered case held together with a large quantity of neatly knotted string. The name Professor R. J. Lupin was stamped across one corner in peeling letters.

"Wonder what he teaches?" said Ron, frowning at Professor Lupin's pallid profile.

"Defence, it was his best subject at school – alongside Care and Arithmancy." Aileen answered before Hermione could.

"How'd you know that?" Ron demanded.

"Because he's Remus John Lupin, one of my father's best friends." Aileen answered. She had looked into all the face she see had seen in the Mirror of Erised so that she could put a name to them. Once she found them she dug a little deeper.

"Well, I hope he's up to it," said Ron doubtfully. "He looks like one, good hex would finish him off, doesn't he? Anyway..." he turned to Aileen, "what were you going to tell us?"

Aileen explained all about Mr. and Mrs. Wesley's argument. When she'd finished, Ron looked thunderstruck, and Hermione had her hands over her mouth.

She finally lowered them to say, "Sirius Black escaped to come after you? Oh, Aileen...you'll have to be really, really careful. Don't go looking for trouble, Aileen..."

"I don't go looking for trouble," said Aileenadamantly, "Trouble usually finds me."

"How thick would Aileen have to be, to go looking for a nutter who wants to kill her?" said Ron shakily.

They were taking the news worse than Aileen had expected. Both Ron and Hermione seemed to be much more frightened of Black than she was; then again she wasn't totally sure he was actually guilty of his crimes.

"No one knows how he got out of Azkaban," said Ron uncomfortably. "No one's ever done it before. And he was a top-security prisoner too."

"But they'll catch him, won't they?" said Hermione earnestly. "I mean, they've got all the Muggles looking out for him too..."

"I imagine, that if Sirius didn't want to be found, he wouldn't be. When he was in school he was one of the best pranksters, and he was only suspected because the teachers _knew_ that they were the only pranksters in the school. They never had proof. He never got caught unless he wanted to be. And if he's hiding out in Britain, if he's heading to Hogwarts, then I imagine he's already at Hogsmeade." Aileen said. "After all, he's been free for more than a month now."

Her friends fell silent at that. Aileen properly should have kept her mouth shut since they both looked absolutely terrified now. After the silence dragged on for a while Aileen decided to appeal to Hermione's intellectual side. She did not want them anymore scared for her safety then they already where.

"You two got permission to go to Hogsmeade?"

"Yeah, Fred and George have been going on about some of the shops there and how useful it is when they run out of prank items."

"Do you know much about Hogsmeade?" asked Hermione keenly, rounding on Ron and dropping the conversation. "I've read it's the only entirely non-Muggle settlement in Britain-"

"Yeah, I think it is," said Ron in an offhand sort of way. "But that's not why I want to go. I just want to get inside Honeydukes!"

"What's that?" said Hermione.

"It's this sweetshop," said Ron, a dreamy look coming over his face, "where they've got everything...Pepper Imps - they make you smoke at the mouth - and great fat Chocoballs full of strawberry mousse and clotted cream, and really excellent sugar quills, which you can suck in class and just look like you're thinking what to write next…"

"But Hogsmeade's a very interesting place, isn't it?" Hermione pressed on eagerly. "In Sites of Historical Sorcery it says the inn was the headquarters for the 1612 goblin rebellion, and the Shrieking Shack's supposed to be the most severely haunted building in Britain -"

"…and massive sherbet balls that make you levitate a few inches off the ground while you're sucking them," said Ron, who was plainly not listening to a word Hermione was saying.

Hermione looked around at Aileen. "Won't it be nice to get out of school for a bit and explore Hogsmeade?"

"I imagine it will be nice to get away for a little while. Especially closer to the exams… gives us something to help us relax." Aileen agreed as Hermione started fumbling with the straps of Crookshanks's basket to let him out.

"Don't let that thing out!" Ron said, but too late; Crookshanks leapt lightly from the basket, stretched, yawned, and sprang onto Ron's knees; the lump in Ron's pocket trembled and he shoved Crookshanks angrily away.

"Get of it!"

"Ron, don't!" said Hermione angrily.

Ron was about to answer back when Professor Lupin stirred. They watched him apprehensively, but he simply turned his head the other way, mouth slightly open, and slept on.

Aileen picked Crookshanks up, getting the cat to settle down on her lap, then she looked at the professor. Truly taking in his physical condition. After a moment she frowned even more. The man hadn't slept enough, or well, for a while. He obviously wasn't eating enough food – especially protein – which was causing him to be thinner and paler then he should be. The skin of his face was slightly hallow from lack of eating. He had the look of a man who lived on the streets but his cloths told her that he at least had enough money to rent an apartment.

The Hogwarts Express moved steadily north and the scenery outside the window became wilder and darker while the clouds overhead thickened overhead. People were chasing backwards and forwards past the door of their compartment. Crookshanks had now settled on Aileen's lap, his squashed face turned towards Ron, his yellow eyes on Ron's top pocket.

At one o'clock the plump witch with the food cart arrived at the compartment door.

"D'you think we should wake him up?" Ron asked awkwardly, nodding towards Professor Lupin. "He looks like he could do with some food."

"Let him sleep," Aileen spoke up before Hermione could approach the professor. Aileen then turned to the food cart lady. "If he wakes later, can we send him your way for something to eat?"

"Of course," the lady agreed handing Ron his large stack of cauldron cakes.

"I suppose he is asleep?" said Ron quietly, as the witch slid the compartment door closed. "I mean - he hasn't died, has he?"

"No, no, he's breathing," whispered Aileen, unwrapping the ham and lettuce sandwich that Mrs Weasley had made her (she had learned during her stay the summer before that greasy or fatty food didn't generally agree with Aileen after having caught her throwing up one day).

He might not be very good company, but Professor Lupin's presence in their compartment had its uses. Mid-afternoon, just as it had started to rain, blurring the rolling hills outside the window, they heard footsteps outside in the corridor again, and their three least favourite people appeared at the door: Draco Malfoy, flanked by his cronies, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle.

"Well, look who it is," said Malfoy in his usual lazy drawl, pulling open the compartment door. "Potty and the Weasel." Crabbe and Goyle chuckled trollishly. "I heard your father finally got his hands on some gold this summer, Weasley," said Malfoy. "Did your mother die of shock?"

Ron stood up so quickly he knocked Crookshanks's basket to the floor. Professor Lupin gave a snort.

"Who's that?" said Malfoy, taking an automatic step backward as he spotted Lupin.

"New teacher," said Aileen who was still sat down while Hermione had got to her feet to hold Ron back, "What were you saying, Mr Malfoy?"

Malfoy's pale eyes narrowed; he wasn't fool enough to pick a fight right under a teacher's nose – asleep or not.

"C'mon," he muttered resentfully to Crabbe and Goyle, and they disappeared.

Hermione and Ron sat down again, Ron massaging his knuckles.

"I'm not going to take any crap from Malfoy this year," he said angrily. "I mean it. If he makes one more crack about my family, I'm going to get hold of his head and -"

Ron made a violent gesture in mid-air.

"Ron," hissed Hermione, pointing at Professor Lupin, "be careful..."

But Professor Lupin was still fast asleep.

The rain thickened as the train sped yet farther north; the windows were now a solid, shimmering grey, which gradually darkened until lanterns flickered into life all along the corridors and over the luggage racks. The train rattled, the rain hammered, the wind roared, but still, Professor Lupin slept.

"We must be nearly there," said Ron, leaning forward to look past Professor Lupin at the now completely black window.

The words had hardly left him when the train started to slow down.

"Great," said Ron, getting up and walking carefully past Professor Lupin to try and see outside. "I'm starving. I want to get to the feast..."

"We can't be there yet," said Hermione, checking her watch.

"So why're we stopping?"

The train was getting slower and slower. As the noise of the pistons fell away, the wind and rain sounded louder than ever against the windows.

The train came to a stop with a jolt, and distant thuds and bangs told them that luggage had fallen out of the racks. Then, without warning, all the lamps went out and they were plunged into total darkness. Aileen drew her wand and immediately cast a light spell.

"What's going on?" said Ron squinting in the dim light from Aileen's wand

"Ouch!" gasped Hermione. "Ron that was my foot!"

"D'you think we've broken down?"

"Impossible." Aileen answered frowning as she reached her free arm out to the professor and gently shook his arm to wake him.

There was a squeaking sound, and Aileen looked over to see Ron, wiping a patch clean on the window and peering out.

"There's something moving out there," Ron said. "I think people are coming aboard..."

The compartment door suddenly opened and someone fell painfully over Aileen's legs.

"Sorry! D'you know what's going on? Ouch! Sorry -"

"Hullo, Neville," said Aileen, reaching down and pulling Neville up into the seat next to her.

"Aileen? What's happening?"

"I'm going to go and ask the driver what's going on," Hermione voiced. She pass her, slide the door open again, and then a thud and two loud squeals of pain.

"Ginny?"

"Hermione?"

"What are you doing?"

"I was looking for Ron -"

"Come in and sit down -"

Aileen reached forward and grabbed Ginny's arm, leading her to the seat next to her since Neville had shuffled up.

"Quiet!" said a hoarse voice suddenly. Professor Lupin appeared to have woken up at last.

There was a soft, crackling noise, and a shivering light filled the compartment allowing Aileen to put her wand out. Professor Lupin appeared to be holding a handful of flames. They illuminated his tired, grey face, but his eyes looked alert and wary.

"Stay where you are." he said in the same hoarse voice, and he got slowly to his feet with his handful of fire held out in front of him.

But the door slid slowly open before Lupin could reach it.

Standing in the doorway, illuminated by the shivering flames in Lupin's hand, was a cloaked figure that towered to the ceiling. Its face was completely hidden beneath its hood. Aileen's eyes darted downward, and what she saw made her stomach contract. There was a hand protruding from the cloak and it was glistening, greyish, slimy-looking, and scabbed, like something dead that had decayed in water...

But it was visible only for a split second. As though the creature beneath the cloak sensed Aileen's gaze, the hand was suddenly withdrawn into the folds of its black cloak.

And then the thing beneath the hood, whatever it was, drew a long, slow, rattling breath, as though it were trying to suck something more than air from its surroundings.

An intense cold swept over them all. Aileen felt her own breath catch in her chest. The cold went deeper than her skin. It was inside her chest, it was inside her very heart...And then, from far away, she heard screaming, terrible, terrified, pleading screams.

Aileen took a deep breath and pushed away the memory that was clawing at the barriers around her mind. She blinked, she could hear roaring in her ears but she saw the professors lips move. He was saying something but the roaring was too loud. Aileen turned her eyes to Ginny and saw her shaking. Crookshanks had buried himself against Aileen's stomach and Aileen could see that Neville was shaking in fear. Being careful of the cat Aileen pulled Ginny into a reassuring hug and using the arm that was behind Ginny, she placed it on Neville's shoulders.

Suddenly a white light filled the compartment and Aileen was filled with love and warmth. When the light had faded Aileen noticed that the thing had gone, but so had the feeling of love. She was left feeling cold and empty. The lights flickered on and the train lurched forward as it began moving.

"Ron, Hermione, are you alright?" Aileen asked thickly as she looked over at her friends, still holding Ginny close and offering Neville support. The both of them needed time to get over their memories.

"Yeah," Ron muttered thickly.

"I'm alright." Hermione whispered.

"Professor?" Aileen looked at the older man who was assessing them all.

"I'm alright, what about you?" he asked frowning as he looked at the position they were in.

"I'll be fine. Does anyone have any chocolate?" Aileen asked. She knew the creature that had entered the compartment. It was a Dementor, the guards of Azkaban. They suck the happiness out of their victims and could remove your soul.

"Yes, I knew that the Dementors would be guarding the school so I brought plenty with me." Professor Lupin said bringing a bar of chocolate from his robes and breaking it into six pieces and handing it out. Aileen, Ginny and Neville got the largest bits.

The moment she placed the chocolate in her mouth Aileen felt warmth spread through her limps and she relaxed slightly. Ron and Hermione also ate their pieces but Neville and Ginny just stared blankly at it. Aileen carefully removed Crookshanks from her lap and knelt in front of them.

"Ginny, Neville." She began softly. "You're safe, it was just a memory. I need you both you focus on my voice…" Aileen conditioned talking softly, reassuring them that they were safe, that they weren't alone. Slowly they both came back to themselves and Aileen was able to get them both to eat the chocolate.

Once they both had a bit more colour in their cheeks, Aileen stood up but then she stumbled and nearly crumpled to the floor had Lupin not caught her.

"Aileen?" he called her name in worry as she was lowered to the ground.

Aileen blinked, trying to focus her eyes on the withered face that was hovering above her. There was a rushing sound in her ears and the warmth that the chocolate had returned to her seemed to disappear.

"Aileen, eat." A voice called. Aileen just blinked, confused. "Eat." He encouraged again and Aileen felt something in her mouth. Slowly she started chewing. It took a few moment for her to realise that it was another piece of chocolate. As she ate, feelings returned to her and her eyes focused.

Everyone was staring at her in worry and Lupin was the one holding her up. Aileen took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Centring her magic which was churning wildly inside her. With her magic centred she assessed her physical condition. Tired, cold but otherwise she was physically fine.

"Aileen, you okay?" Hermione's voice said worriedly when Aileen finally opened her eyes.

"Yeah, apparently Dementors have a very strong effect on me." Aileen answered, slowly climbing to her feet with the aid of the professor who still had his arms supporting her and returning her to her seat. Crookshanks was sat on Hermione's lap and did not make a move to return to Aileen. "Thanks, professor." Aileen added, smiling gratefully at Lupin, who nodded as he straitened up.

"What was that thing?" Ron asked Lupinnow that everyone was alright.

"A Dementor. One of the Dementors of Azkaban." Professor Lupin crumpled up the empty chocolate wrapper and put it in his pocket. "I need to speak to the driver, excuse me..."

He strolled past Aileen and disappeared into the corridor.

Aileen look to Ron and Hermione who appeared to be the least affect out of the lot of them. "What happened?" Aileen asked them causing the others to look at her in worry.

"Didn't you hear?" Ron asked confused.

"I was barely holding onto consciousness, Ron. I couldn't hear a thing." Aileen answered.

"Well - that thing - the Dementor - stood there and looked around (I mean, I think it did, I couldn't see its face) - and it seemed to focus on your three - you started shaking and leaned to the side…"

"You went sort of rigid-"

Hermione agreed timidly.

"And Professor Lupin stepped forward, and walked toward the Dementor, and pulled out his wand," said Hermione, "and he said, 'None of us is hiding Sirius Black under our cloaks. Go.' But the Dementor didn't move, it just continued to look at you, so Lupin muttered something, and a silvery thing shot out of his wand at it, and it turned around and sort of glided away..."

"It was horrible," said Neville, in a higher voice than usual causing Aileen to wrap him in a half hug. "Did you feel how cold it got when it came in?"

"I felt weird," said Ron, shifting his shoulders uncomfortably. "Like I'd never be cheerful again..."

Ginny gave a small sob prompting Aileen to wrap her arm around the younger girl as well.

Professor Lupin had come back. He paused as he entered, looked around, his eyes lingered on Aileen. "We'll be at Hogwarts in ten minutes," said Professor Lupin. "Are you all right, Aileen?"

"I will be," Aileen answered not willing to admit to being fine just yet.

"Are you sure, that Dementor was focused mostly on you when it entered?" The professor frowned.

"I'm sure," Aileen confirmed.

They didn't talk much during the remainder of the journey. Fred, George and Percy all stopped by to make sure that they were alright and they exchanged information about what happened. Apparently they hadn't had it as bad because the Dementor didn't enter any of the other compartments so the effects weren't as strong.

At long last, the train stopped at Hogsmeade station, and there was a great scramble to get outside; owls hooted, cats meowed, and Neville's pet toad croaked loudly from under his hat. It was freezing on the tiny platform; rain was driving down in icy sheets. When the rain hit her the last of the affects from the Dementors left her, the water returning her strength and colour. Although ran didn't have the same strength in restorative powers as a shower or bath, and especially not as strong as a lack, river or the sea, it was enough to push away the reminder of the weakness. Although there was a chance it would return when she was out of the rain since it generally just gave her a temporary boost instead of completely healing her (in a similar way to adrenaline).

"Firs' years this way!" called a familiar voice. Aileen, Ron, and Hermione turned and saw the gigantic outline of Hagrid at the other end of the platform, beckoning the terrified-looking new students forward for their traditional journey across the lake.

"All right, you three?" Hagrid yelled over the heads of the crowd. They waved at him, but had no chance to speak to him because the mass of people around them was shunting them away along the platform. Aileen, Ron, and Hermione followed the rest of the school along the platform and out onto a rough mud track, where at least a hundred stagecoaches awaited the remaining students, each pulled by a skeletal horse. Aileen grabbed Ginny and Neville, not wanting to leave them alone right now. Her memories were still lingering in her mind, despite the fact that effect of the Dementors was gone, and she doubted that Ginny and Neville had been able to move on from what they had scene that quickly.

The coach smelled faintly of mould and straw. Ron and Hermione kept looking at her sideways, as though frightened she might collapse. They didn't seem as concerned with Neville and Ginny since they hadn't collapsed, simply gone catatonic, so their silence was ignored by Ron and Hermione.

As the carriage trundled toward a pair of magnificent wrought iron gates, flanked with stone columns topped with winged boars, Aileen saw two more towering, hooded Dementors, standing guard on either side. A wave of cold sickness threatened to engulf her again; she leaned back into the lumpy seat, pulling Ginny and Neville back with her until they had passed the gates. The carriage picked up speed on the long, sloping drive up to the castle; Hermione was leaning out of the tiny window, watching the many turrets and towers draw nearer. At last, the carriage swayed to a halt, and Hermione and Ron got out.

As Aileen stepped down, a drawling, delighted voice sounded in her ear.

"You fainted, Potter? Is Weasley telling the truth? You actually fainted?"

Malfoy elbowed past Hermione to block Aileen's way up the stone steps to the castle, his face gleeful and his pale eyes glinting maliciously.

Aileen simply coaxed her head to the side. "Mr Malfoy," Aileen said calmly (she had taken to calling him that because it irritated him that she was being so formal), "Are you aware what a Dementor does?" Aileen locked eyes with the boy, completely ignoring the rain that pounded on them as Neville and Ginny stepped out of the carriage. "They take away a person's happiness. They drag up the deepest darkest memories a person has. And do you know what mine is?" the gleeful smirk had fallen from Malfoy's face. "The death of my parents. So Mr Malfoy, tell me, what would your reaction be if you heard the murder of your parents?" Aileen had stepped forward so that only Malfoy could hear what she was saying.

"Is there a problem?" said a mild voice. Professor Lupin had just gotten out of the next carriage.

Malfoy gave Professor Lupin an insolent stare, which took in the patches on his robes and the dilapidated suitcase. With a tiny hint of sarcasm in his voice, he said, "Oh, no - er - Professor," then he smirked at Crabbe and Goyle and led them up the steps into the castle.

Hermione prodded Ron in the back to make him hurry, and the five of them joined the crowd swarming up the steps, through the giant oak front doors, into the cavernous Entrance Hall, which was lit with flaming torches, and housed a magnificent marble staircase that led to the upper floors.

The door into the Great Hall stood open at the right; Aileen followed the crowd toward it, but had barely glimpsed the enchanted ceiling, which was black and cloudy tonight, when a voice called, "Potter! Granger! I want to see you both!"

Aileen and Hermione turned around, surprised. Professor McGonagall, Transfiguration teacher and head of Gryffindor House, was calling over the heads of the crowd. She was a stern looking witch who wore her hair in a tight bun; her sharp eyes were framed with square spectacles. Aileen moved through the crowd of students – having some difficulty since she was going against the flow – Hermione behind her.

"There's no need to look so worried - I just want a word in my office," she told them. "Move along there, Weasley."

Ron stared as Professor McGonagall ushered Aileen and Hermione away from the chattering crowd; they accompanied her across the entrance hall, up the marble staircase, and along a corridor.

Once they were in her office, a small room with a large, welcoming fire, Professor McGonagall motioned Aileen and Hermione to sit down. She settled herself behind her desk and said abruptly, "Professor Lupin sent an owl ahead to say that you were taken ill on the train, Potter."

Before Aileen could reply, there was a soft knock on the door and Madam Pomfrey, the nurse, came bustling in.

"I'm fine, Madam Pomfrey. Professor Lupin gave us all chocolate once the Dementor had left. He had come prepared."

Madam Pomfrey clucked disapprovingly. "Setting Dementors around a school," Madam Pomfrey said feeling Aileen's forehead to make sure she wasn't clammy. "Terrible things, they are, and the effect they have on people who are already delicate -"

"Madam." Aileen cut across her, not appreciating the way the Madam Pomfrey was completely disregarding her thoughts, words and considerations. "I am perfectly fine. Ginny and Neville had a similar reaction to me due to our pasts. However, we are all fine." Aileen emphasised this. The only difference between her reaction and theirs was that she nearly fainted and the Dementor was more focused on her then the others.

"Are you sure you feel all right, Potter?" Professor McGonagall said sharply.

"Yes," said Aileen tiredly.

"Very well. Kindly wait outside while I have a quick word with Miss Granger about her course schedule, then we can go down to the feast together."

Aileen went back into the corridor with Madam Pomfrey, who left for the hospital wing after telling Aileen to come to the hospital wing the next day so that she could arrange a time for them to continue Aileen's lessons now she had the basics down. She had to wait only a few minutes; then Hermione emerged looking very happy about something, followed by Professor McGonagall, and the three of them made their way back down the marble staircase to the Great Hall.

It was a sea of pointed black hats; each of the long House tables was lined with students, their faces glimmering by the light of thousands of candles, which were floating over the tables in mid-air. Professor Flitwick, who was a tiny little wizard with a shock of white hair, was carrying an ancient hat and a three-legged stool out of the hall.

"Oh," said Hermione softly, "we've missed the Sorting!"

Professor McGonagall strode off toward her empty seat at the staff table, and Aileen and Hermione set off in the other direction, as quietly as possible, toward the Gryffindor table. People looked around at them as they passed along the back of the hall, and a few of them pointed at Aileen.

She and Hermione sat down on either side of Ron, who had saved them seats.

"What was all that about?" he muttered to Aileen.

Aileen started to explain in a whisper, but at that moment the headmaster stood up to speak, and she broke off.

"Welcome!" said Dumbledore, the candlelight shimmering on his beard. "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I have a few things to say to you all, and as several of them are very serious, I think it best to get them out of the way before you become befuddled by our excellent feast..."

Dumbledore cleared his throat and continued, "As you will all be aware after their search of the Hogwarts Express, our school is presently playing host to some of the Dementors of Azkaban, who are here on Ministry of Magic business." He paused, the twinkle in his eyes dimming a little, showing how unhappy he was with the arrangement. "They are stationed at every entrance to the grounds," Dumbledore continued, "and while they are with us, I must make it plain that nobody is to leave school without permission. Dementors are not to be fooled by tricks or disguises - or even Invisibility Cloaks," he added blandly. "It is not in the nature of a Dementor to understand pleading or excuses. I therefore warn each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you. I look to the prefects, and our new Head Boy and Girl, to make sure that no student runs afoul of the Dementors," he said. Dumbledore paused again; he looked very seriously around the hall, and nobody moved or made a sound.

"Furthermore, it has come to my attention that changes need to be made in the way we discipline the students. Therefore, a bullying policy has been written; cruel words and actions will no longer be overlook by the professors. You will find a copy of the policy on your beds, ignorance will not be an excuse by the beginning of next week so I'd advise you read it well. Link with this, I have gone of the point system and found it to be abused by the staff. There are no guide lines in place for how many points gave been given or taken for any particular action, and at the end of the week I will be reviewing the point book. If you feel like you have been unfairly punished – this includes detentions – than students can appeal to their head of house. If their head of house is the one to issue the punishment then they are to approach on of the others. However, be warned, if you bring forward a point of discourse it good lead to a greater punishment. Copies of this new point system will also be found on your beds beside a code of conduct for students."

As Dumbledore spoke, there were whispers and grumbling going throughout the hall. A couple of people looked please – particularly Slytherin when the change to the point system was mentioned. Up at the staff table, Aileen noticed that Snape looked distinctly pleased with Dumbledore's announcement with the spark in his eye meant anything. The other teachers seemed mostly neutral to the changes, but Professor Flitwick was watching his own house closely. Aileen assumed that Dumbledore had asked about Luna.

"On a happier note,"

Dumbledore continued when the students had quietened down. "I am pleased to welcome two new teachers to our ranks this year. First, Professor Lupin, who has kindly consented to fill the post of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher."

There was some scattered, rather unenthusiastic applause. Only those who had been in the compartment on the train with Professor Lupin clapped hard, Aileen among them. Professor Lupin looked particularly shabby next to all the other teachers in their best robes.

"As to our second new appointment," Dumbledore continued as the lukewarm applause for Professor Lupin died away. "Well, I am sorry to tell you that Professor Kettleburn, our Care of Magical Creatures teacher, retired at the end of last year in order to enjoy more time with his remaining limbs. However, I am delighted to say that his place will be filled by none other than Rubeus Hagrid, who has agreed to take on this teaching job in addition to his game keeping duties."

Aileen Ron, and Hermione stared at one another, stunned. Then they joined in with the applause, which was tumultuous at the Gryffindor table in particular. Aileen leaned forward to see Hagrid, who was ruby red in the face and staring down at his enormous hands, his wide grin hidden in the tangle of his black beard.

"We should've known!" Ron roared, pounding the table. "Who else would have assigned us a biting book?"

Aileen, Ron, and Hermione were the last to stop clapping, and as Professor Dumbledore started speaking again, they saw that Hagrid was wiping his eyes on the tablecloth.

"Well, I think that's everything of importance," said Dumbledore. "Let the feast begin!"

When Aileen, Ron, and Hermione entered the Great Hall for breakfast the next day, the first thing they saw was Draco Malfoy, who seemed to be entertaining a large group of Slytherins with a very funny story. As they passed, Malfoy did a ridiculous impression of a swooning fit and there was a roar of laughter.

"Hey, Potter!" shrieked Pansy Parkinson, a Slytherin girl with a face like a pug. "Potter! The Dementors are coming, Potter! Woooooooooo!" Aileen simply titled her head and stared at the group of Slytherins blankly. Absolutely no emotion showing on her face. The Slytherin stopped laughing and shifted uncomfortable in their seats, particularly when they noticed Professor Snape descend on them. Since she had moved onto her own table, she didn't hear what he had said, but she figured he was reminding them of the new bullying policy.

"New third-year course schedules," George greeted when Aileen fell into the seat between him and Fred. "What's up with you lot?" he asked, taking in Ron's and Hermione's face and Aileen's tight smile.

"Malfoy was trying to make fun of my reaction to the Dementors." Aileen explained.

"That little git," George insulted calmly, as he started putting food on his plate. "He wasn't so cocky last night when the Dementors were down at our end of the train. Came running into our compartment, didn't he, Fred?"

"Nearly wet himself," Fred agreed.

"I wasn't too happy myself," George continued, offering Aileen a comforting smile. "They'rehorrible things, those Dementors..."

"Sort of freeze your insides, don't they?" said Fred.

"Dad had to go out to Azkaban one time, remember, Fred? And he said it was the worst place he'd ever been, he came back all weak and shaking...They suck the happiness out of a place, Dementors. Most of the prisoners go mad in there."

"Anyway, we'll see how happy Malfoy looks after our first Quidditch match," said Fred. "Gryffindor versus Slytherin, first game of the season, remember?"

Hermione was examining her newschedule.

"Ooh, good, we're starting some new subjects today," she said happily.

"Hermione," said Ron, frowning as he looked over her shoulder, "they've messed up your timetable. Look - they've got you down for about ten subjects a day. There isn't enough time."

Aileen also looked over Hermione's schedule. It seemed that Hermione had indeed been allowed into all her options, but Muggle Studies classed with Ancient Runes and Divinations classed with Arithmancy since students who generally took Muggle Studies or Divination wouldn't take Ancient Runes or Arithmancy. If there was an odd student that did take such an odd combination, then they would be placed into a different class so that their time table would fit (generally losing a study session for the clash, and gaining one in a different place for whatever lesson they didn't take). It seemed like whoever wrote of Hermione's time table was keeping her in her own house group, and yet allowing her into all the subjects.

However, Ron had exaggerated the number of subjects Hermione had in a day. Their lesson were split into four blocks a day, and a fifth study period three times a week (not counting astronomy which was always placed so that the students had a free the following morning and made up a five subject on that day while the following day only had three). With two double ups Hermione had at most five lessons and a study session. But even that would be too much for her to cope with since she lost two study sessions a week to Care. This meant she would be trying to do homework for twelve subject in her one study period and this was counting into account the cause work that was mandatory towards there grade for Ancient Runes (and she thought Arithmancy as well, but she wasn't sure). If Hermione wanted to stay on top of her homework and attend all those lessons – assuming she could be in two places at once three six times a week – then she wasn't going to have the time of day to stop, breathe, eat, sleep and relax. And this wasn't taking into consideration Hermione's overachieving and independent research.

"I'll manage. I've fixed it all with Professor McGonagall." Hermione tried to brush them off as she took her time table back.

"But look," said Ron, laughing, "see this morning? Nine o'clock, Divination. And underneath, Arithmancy, nine o'clock. I mean, I know you're good, Hermione, but no one's that good. How're you supposed to be in two classes at once?"

"Don't be silly," said Hermione shortly. "Of course I won't be in two classes at once."

"Well then -"

"Pass the marmalade," said Hermione, making it obvious she was closing the topic and wasn't willing to talk about it.

"But -" Ron tried to protest, while Aileen passed the marmalade, sharing a look with Fred and George.

"Oh, Ron, what's it to you if my timetable's a bit full?" Hermione snapped. "I told you, I've fixed it all with Professor McGonagall."

Just then, Hagrid entered the Great Hall. He was wearing his long moleskin overcoat and was absent-mindedly swinging a dead polecat from one enormous hand.

"All righ'?" he said eagerly, pausing on his way to the staff table. "Yer in my firs' ever lesson! Right afterlunch! Bin up since five getting' everthin' ready...hope it's OK...me, a teacher...hones'ly..." He grinned broadly at them and headed off to the staff table, still swinging the polecat.

"Wonder what he's been getting ready?" said Ron, a note of anxiety in his voice.

The Hall was starting to empty as people headed off towards their first lesson. Ron checked his schedule.

"I'd better go, look, Divination's at the top of North Tower. It'll take me ten minutes to get there..."

"I'll see you in transfiguration," Aileen said heading in the direction of the south wing, fourth floor, where Arithmancywas. She had just gotten to the classroom when Hermione turned up looking mildly exhausted. Aileen frowned in worry but didn't mention it. She just entered the class and took a seat near the front, Hermione taking the empty space next to her.

Arithmancy was taught by Septima Vector who was a very strict women and the only teacher who was in the house of Slytherin besides Severus Snape. Professor Vector immediately began her lesson the moment the last person had sat down, not even waiting for some of the students to get out their parchments and quills.

"Arithmancy was first used by the ancient Greeks. It is the art of divination from numbers. The ancient Greeks used to assign values to the letters in the names of the combatants to foretell the outcome of battles. In the ninth century, BC, the Chaldeans, who we derived our number system from, practised a form of Arithmancy that divided their alphabet in three parts, each part composed of seven letters which they attributed to the, then known, seven planets. We still use a similar system today due to the notable power behind the numbers three and seven.

We use Arithmancy as a logical way to help predict trends in the future – the most likely outcome as it were. Arithmancy is also used when combined with Ancient Runes to create spells, however we will not be looking into this due to the level of difficulty that Spell Crafting requires and the fact that not everyone here has taken Ancient Runes. If you wish to do Spell Crafting then there is a session for it when you are in your seventh year that you can sign up for if you've obtained adequate grades.

Anyway, the most basic form of Arithmancy is used with the names of people you want more information about. Now I would like you to use the chart in your books to write out the corresponding numbers to each letter in your name; if you haven't read the first few chapters in the book put your hand up so I can explain to you how it is done."

Aileen opened her book and found the chart:

1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9

A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I

J-K-L-M-N-O-P-Q-R

S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z

Underneath her notes Aileen wrote out the chart and then her name. Under her name she wrote the corresponding numbers: 1,9,3,5,5,5 – 7,6,2,2,5,9. Once she had finished Aileen swopped with Hermione so that they could check each other's work. Hermione had also written her name and then the corresponding numbers under it: 8,5,9,4,9,6,5,5 – 7,9,1,5,7,5,9.

"Next, you "reduce" your number by adding your numbers together until all you are left with is one digit. By reducing the numbers down to a single number you are finding your "Character Number", which can be used to find out the general personality type of the person."

"Mrs, how do we reduce a number?" Susan Bones asked from Aileen's other side.

"You add up all the numbers." Professor Vector answered calmly. "I will go around the room checking to make sure that you have everything right." She added.

Aileen looked down at her numbers:

1+9+3+5+5+5+7+6+2+2+5+9 = 59.

5+9 = 14.

4+1 = 5.

This meant that her Character Number was 5.

Professor Vector returned to the front of the classroom after looking at everyone's parchment to make sure that they were right.

"Miss Granger, which number did you get?" Professor Vector asked.

"4." Hermione answered.

"Do you know what that means, Miss Granger?" Professor Vector asked.

"No, ma'am." Hermione answered, sounding disappointed in herself.

"Can anyone tell me what the number four means in relation to their Character Number?"

Aileen was the only one to raise her hand and at the professor nod she began speaking, "The number four indicates stability and firmness. People with the number four generally enjoy hard work, are practical, reliable and down to earth. Fours are good at organisation and getting things done but," Aileen hesitated here and shot Hermione an apologetic look, "they are also predictable, stubborn and suspicious. Sometimes they can be overly practical, staying firmly inside the metaphorical box, and are prone to angry outburst. Since four is twice two, they are twice as likely to engage in a conflict as someone who's Character Number is two."

"And what was your number, Miss Potter?" Professor Vector leaned forward slightly her eyes narrowed on Aileen in interest.

"5, ma'am." Aileen answered.

"And can you tell me what 5 means?"

"Someone with the Character Number of 5 is drawn to many things at once but commit to none because 5 is the number of instability and imbalance. They are adventurous, energetic and willing to take risks. They like travelling and meeting knew people but won't stay in one place for long. Fives can be vain, irresponsible, quick-tempered and impatient." As Aileen had spoken the entire class took notes.

"Very good, Miss Potter. Do you know the rest?" Professor Vector asked curiously.

Aileen looked at Hermione out of the corner of her eye to see the other girl give her an encouraging nod.

"1's are independent, focused and determined because 1 is the individual, solitary unit. When a 1 sets a goal they will stick with it. Because of this they are generally leaders and inventors. Despite being leaders, 1's can find it difficult to work with others and in some cases they can be loners, self-centred, egotistical and domineering.

2's are imaginative, creative and sweat natured because 2 represents interaction, cooperation and balance. Peace, harmony, commitment, loyalty and fairness are characteristics. However, like in all partnerships, 2 also introduces the idea of conflict, opposing forces and contrast. Some 2s can be withdrawn, moody, self-conscious and indecisive.

3's represents the idea of completeness which is why we have threesomes such as past-present-future and mind-body-soul. 3 can indicate talent, energy, artistic nature, humour and social ease. They are often lucky, easy going and highly successful but they can also be unfocused, easily offended and superficial.

I've already explain 4 and 5 so I shall move swiftly onto 6. 6s are often loyal, reliable and loving because it represents harmony, friendship and family life. And like any good parent they can generally adapt easily to the situation. They do well in teaching and the arts but are often unsuccessful in business due to the heartless nature in that area. Sometimes 6s can be prone to gossip and complacency – they don't fight back or join conflicts easily.

7s are generally perceptive, understanding and bright. They, like 4's, enjoy hard work and challenges. They are often serious, scholarly and interested in all things mysterious. Originality and imagination are valued more than money and material possessions. However they can also be pessimistic, sarcastic and insecure.

8s opposed to 6 have great success in the areas of business, finance and politics. They are practical, ambitious, committed and hard working. However they can also be jealous, greedy, domineering and power-hungry. 8 is said to be the most unpredictable of numbers because there is always the potential of going either way: the pinnacle of success or the depths of failure.

9 is the last number used in Arithmancy and represents completion and achieving to the fullest degree – some believe this is because 9 is the complete number 3, expressed 3 times. Nines dedicate themselves too service, often as teachers, scientists and humanitarians. Strongly determined, they work tirelessly and are an inspiration to others. However they can also be arrogant and vain if something doesn't go their way."

"Well done Miss Potter. 35 points to Gryffindor." Professor Vector then turned to the rest of the class who were just finishing of their notes. "For homework I would like everyone to pick ten people – dead or alive – and analyse their Character using the information Miss Potter has just given you about the Character numbers which can also be found in your books."

Just then the bell went and the entire class packed up and left. Aileen turned to speak with Hermione as she left the classroom only to find that Hermione was no longer behind her. Aileen frowned but continued onto Transfiguration.

Aileen sat at the back of the transfiguration class room and frowned in confusion at the looks the rest of the class were shooting her – it was as though they were expecting her to drop dead. Even Ron looked at her sorrowfully when he sat on her right. Hermione was the only one acting normal as she sat on Ron's other side, looking more warn then before.

Because Transfiguration was not an elective it had been split so the entirety of Gryffindor third year was together, while the other three houses where in Charms, Herbology or History. The only lessons where the classes double up (or more) was electives, astronomy, defence and potions. Although this only happened after third year. This meant that the rest of her transfiguration class had taken Divination, which, Aileen figured, was probably why they were looking at her like she was about to die.

Professor McGonagall began the lesson by telling them about Animagi (which Aileen was very interested in because she wanted to become one) but most of the class weren't paying attention. They didn't even react when she transformed herself in front of their eyes into a tabby cat with spectacle markings around her eyes.

"Really, what has got into you all today?" said Professor McGonagall, turning back into herself with a faint pop, and staring around at them all: only Aileen and Hermione had looked impressed. "Not that it matters, but that's the first time my transformation's not got applause from a class."

Everybody's heads turned toward Aileen againcausing her to frown, but nobody spoke. Then Hermione raised her hand.

"Please, Professor, we've just had our first Divination class, and we were reading the tea leaves, and -" Aileen frowned even more, Hermione had just been in Arithmancy not Divination. How had she been in two places at once?

"Ah, of course," said Professor McGonagall, suddenly frowning. "There is no need to say any more, Miss Granger. Tell me, which of you will be dying this year?"

Everyone stared at herbefore Hermione spoke again.

"She didn't actually say a name, professor."

"She was looking into my cup and she said that the leaves predicted the death of the lightening child. She said the death omen – a grim – followed its master loyally until their death." Ron spoke.

"And what, you all assumed that I was going to die because I have a scar shaped like a lightning bolt?" Aileen demanded, supressing the sudden sinking feeling she had. She only knew one lightening child – Thalia – and although they had never met Aileen had grown to like and admire the loyal, stubborn and spunky girl.

"I see," said Professor McGonagall, fixing her beady eyes on the entirety of the class. "Then you should know that Sibyll Trelawney has predicted the death of one student a year since she arrived at this school. None of them has died yet. Seeing death omens is her favourite way of greeting a new class. If it were not for the fact that I never speak ill of my colleagues -" Professor McGonagall broke off, and they saw that her nostrils had gone white. She went on, more calmly, "Divination is one of the most imprecise branches of magic. I shall not conceal from you that I have very little patience with it. True Seers are very rare, and Professor Trelawney..."

She stopped again, and then said, in a very matter-of-fact tone, "You look in excellent health to me, Potter, so you will excuse me if I don't let you off homework today. I assure you that if you die, you need not hand it in."

Hermione and Aileen laughed, the only two who didn't believe in Trelawney's ability to predict the future. Not everyone was convinced, however. Ron still looked worried, and Lavender whispered, "But what about Neville's cup?"

When the Transfiguration class had finished, they joined the crowd thundering toward the Great Hall for lunch.

"Ron, cheer up," said Hermione, pushing a dish of stew toward him. "You heard what Professor McGonagall said."

Ron spooned stew onto his plate and picked up his fork but didn't start.

"Aileen" he said, in a low, serious voice, "You haven't seen a great black dog anywhere, have you?"

"Yeah, I have," saidAileen. "He's names So̱ti̱ría and he's currently staying at Hagrid's hut because I'm not allowed to bring him into the castle."

Ron let his fork fall with a clatter.

"You adopted astray," Hermione calmly observed – ignoring Ron.

"He followed me everywhere – what else was I supposed to do?" Aileen shrugged picking up an apple to eat since she wasn't very hungry.

Ron looked at Hermione as though she had gone mad.

"Hermione, if Aileen's seen a Grim, that's - that's bad. And do you not remember what Trelawney said: 'the omen of death shall follow loyally in its master's footsteps till their death'" Ron said, paling dramatically. "My uncle Bilius saw one and - and he died twenty-four hours later!"

"Coincidence," said Hermione airily, pouring herself some pumpkin juice.

"You don't know what you're talking about!" said Ron, starting to get angry. "Grims scare the living daylights out of most wizards!"

"There you are, then," said Hermione in a superior tone. "They see the Grim and die of fright. The Grim's not an omen, it's the cause of death! And Aileen's still with us because she's not stupid enough to see one and think, right, well, I'd better kick the bucket then! Hell she adopted it!"

Ron mouthed wordlessly at Hermione, who opened her bag, took out her new Arithmancy book, and propped it open against the juice jug.

"I think Divination seems very woolly," she said, searching for her page. "A lot of guesswork, if you ask me."

"There was nothing woolly about the Grim in that cup!" said Ron hotly.

"You didn't seem quite so confident when you were telling Trelawney it was a sheep," said Hermione coolly.

"Professor Trelawney said you didn't have the right aura! You just don't like being bad at something for a change!"

He had touched a nerve. Hermione slammed her Arithmancy book down on the table so hard that bits of meat and carrot flew everywhere.

"If being good at Divination means I have to pretend to see death omens in a lump of tea leaves, I'm not sure I'll be studying it much longer! That lesson was absolute rubbish compared with my Arithmancy class!" She snatched up her bag and stalked away causing Aileen to sigh: quick to engage in conflictespecially when communicating with someone with the Character Number of 1: someone who is hard to work with at times due to their independent nature.

Ron frowned after her.

"What's she talking about?" he said to Aileen. "She hasn't been to an Arithmancy class yet."

Aileen decided not to answer.

Aileen's first lesson after lunch was Care. Fortunately the rain from the day before had cleared, leaving the sky as clear pale grey. The grass was still damp underfoot, but it wasn't wet enough to yield beneath their feet and cover their lower legs in mud.

Ron and Hermione weren't speaking to each other. Aileen was forced to walk between them in silence as they went down the sloping lawns to Hagrid's hut on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. In front of her walked three very familiar heads, alerting Aileen to the fact that they shared this lesson with the Slytherins; once again Aileen questioned why the most hostile houses were together in a potentially dangerous subject (particularly later on). Malfoy was talking animatedly to Crabbe and Goyle, who were chortling.

Hagrid was waiting for his class at the door of his hut. He stood in his moleskin overcoat, with Fang the boarhound at his heels, looking impatient to start. On his other side sat So̱ti̱ría who bounded to Aileen's side the moment he spotted Aileen, barking happily. The girls screamed and Ron paled dramatically while Aileen just laughed and kneeled so that she could properly greet her friend.

"C'mon, now, get a move on!" Hagrid called as the class approached, most of them shooting So̱ti̱ría distrustful looks. "Got a real treat for yeh today! Great lesson comin' up! Everyone here? Right, follow me!"

For one nasty moment, Aileen thought that Hagrid was going to lead them into the forest. However, Hagrid strolled off around the edge of the trees, and five minutes later, they found themselves outside a kind of paddock. There was nothing in there.

"Everyone gather 'round the fence here!" he called. "That's it - make sure yeh can see - now, firs' thing yeh'll want ter do is open yer books -"

"How?" said the cold, drawling voice of Draco Malfoy.

"Eh?" said Hagrid.

"How do we open our books?" Malfoy repeated. He took out his copy of The Monster Book of Monsters, which he had bound shut with a length of rope. Other people took theirs out too; some, like Aileen, had belted their book shut; others had crammed them inside tight bags or clamped them together with binder clips.

"Hasn' - hasn' anyone bin able ter open their books?" said Hagrid, looking crestfallen.

The class all shook their heads.

"Yeh've got ter stroke 'em," said Hagrid, as though this was the most obvious thing in the world. "Look -"

He took Hermione's copy and ripped off the Spellotape that bound it. The book tried to bite, but Hagrid ran a giant forefinger down its spine, and the book shivered, and then fell open and lay quiet in his hand.

"Oh, how silly we've all been!" Malfoy sneered. "We should have stroked them! Why didn't we guess!"

"I - I thought they were funny," Hagrid said uncertainly to Hermione.

"Oh, tremendously funny!" said Malfoy. "Really witty, giving us books that try and rip our hands off!"

"Mr Malfoy do you know how many books there are out there for Care of Magical Creatures?" Aileen demanded. "Five – out of that limited selection do you really thing that it is Hagrid's fault that the one most fitting for his third year class happens to bite?"

"Righ' then," said Hagrid, after a moments silence now that Malfoy had fallen silent and was glaring at her in utter hatred. "so - so yeh've got yer books an'...an'...now yeh need the Magical Creatures. Yeah. So I'll go an' get 'em. Hang on..."

He strode away from them into the forest and out of sight.

"God, this place is going to the dogs," said Malfoy loudly. "That oaf teaching classes, my father'll have a fit when I tell him -"

"Hagrid is far more qualified than you would think, Mr Malfoy, as the minister can attest to."

"Careful, Potter, there's a Dementor behind you -"

"Oooooooh!" squealed Lavender Brown, pointing toward the opposite side of the paddock.

Trotting toward them were a dozen of the most bizarre creatures Aileen had ever seen. They had the bodies, hind legs, and tails of horses, but the front legs, wings, and heads of what seemed to be giant eagles, with cruel, steel-coloured beaks and large, brilliantly, orange eyes. The talons on their front legs were half a foot long and deadly looking. Each of the beasts had a thick leather collar around its neck, which was attached to a long chain, and the ends of all of these were held in the vast hands of Hagrid, who came jogging into the paddock behind the creatures.

"Gee up, there!" he roared, shaking the chains and urging the creatures toward the fence where the class stood. Everyone drew back slightly as Hagrid reached them and tethered the creatures to the fence.

"Hippogriffs!" Hagrid roared happily, waving a hand at them. "Beau'iful, aren' they?"

Aileen could see what Hagrid meant. Once you got over the first shock of seeing something that was half horse, half bird, you started to appreciate the Hippogriffs' gleaming coats, changing smoothly from feather to hair, each of them a different colour: stormy grey, bronze, pinkish roan, gleaming chestnut, and inky black.

"So," said Hagrid, rubbing his hands together and beaming around, "if yeh wan' ter come a bit nearer..."

No one seemed to want to. Aileen, Ron, and Hermione, however, approached the fence cautiously. So̱ti̱ría at Aileen's side as he stared warily at the animal.

"Now, firs' thing yeh gotta know abou' Hippogriffs is, they're proud," said Hagrid. "Easily offended, Hippogriffs are. Don't never insult one, 'cause it might be the last thing yeh do."

Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle weren't listening; they were talking in an undertone and Aileen had a nasty feeling they were plotting how best to disrupt the lesson.

"Yeh always wait fer the Hippogriff ter make the firs' move," Hagrid continued. "It's polite, see? Yeh walk toward him, and yeh bow, an' yeh wait. If he bows back, yeh're allowed ter touch him. If he doesn' bow, then get away from him sharpish, 'cause those talons hurt."

"Right - who wants ter go first?"

Most of the class backed farther away in answer. Even Aileen, Ron, and Hermione had misgivings. The Hippogriffs were tossing their fierce heads and flexing their powerful wings; they didn't seem to like being tethered like this.

"No one?" said Hagrid, with a pleading look.

"I'll do it," said Aileen after a moment of indecision.

There was an intake of breath from behind her, and both Lavender and Parvati whispered, "Oooh, no, Aileen, remember the tea leaves!" even So̱ti̱ría had misgivings about this. He winded and lightly touched the back of her hand with his nose.

Aileen ignored them, the tea lives weren't about her and she felt safe with Hagrid there. She jumped over the fence with ease – using her hands to vault up in the air and land gracefully on the other side.

"Good girl Aileen," roared Hagrid. "Right then - let's see how yeh get on with Buckbeak."

He untied one of the chains, pulled the grey Hippogriff away from its fellows, and slipped off its leather collar. The class on the other side of the paddock seemed to be holding its breath. Malfoy's eyes were narrowed maliciously.

"Easy now, Aileen," said Hagrid quietly. "Yeh've got eye contact, now try not ter blink...Hippogriffs don' trust yeh if yeh blink too much..."

Aileen locked eyes with the proud beast, bending her legs and then her back in a deep bow. Buckbeak had turned his great, sharp head and was staring at Aileen with one fierce orange eye.

"Tha's it," said Hagrid. The Hippogriff was still staring haughtily at her. It didn't move. Aileen imagined it was sensing the fact that she was a demi-god and trying to decided whose child she was and whether or not she was worthy of his trust.

"Ah," said Hagrid, sounding worried. "Right - back away, now, Aileen, easy does it -"

But then, to Aileen's enormous relief, the Hippogriff suddenly bent its scaly front knees and sank into what was an unmistakable bow.

"Well done, Aileen!" said Hagrid, ecstatic. "Right - yeh can touch him! Pat his beak, go on!"

Aileen moved slowly towards the beast, raising her hand to indicate what it was she was going to do. The Hippogriff allowed her to approach and when she gently ran her hand down his beak he closed his eyeslazily, as though enjoying it.

The class broke into applause, all except for Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, who were looking deeply disappointed.

"Righ' then, Aileen," said Hagrid. "I reckon he migh' let yeh ride him!" This was more than Aileen had bargained for. She was used to a broomstick; but she wasn't sure a Hippogriff would be quite the same (not to mention the fact that she was also a Daughter of Poseidon and flying would be a really bad idea).

"Yeh climb up there, jus' behind the wing joint," said Hagrid, "an' mind yeh don' pull any of his feathers out, he won' like that..."

Aileen put her foot on the top of Buckbeak's wing and hoisted herself onto its back. Buckbeak stood up. Aileen wasn't sure where to hold on; everything in front of her was covered with feathers.

"Go on, then!" roared Hagrid, slapping the Hippogriffs hindquarters.

Without warning, twelve-foot wings flapped open on either side of Aileen, she just had time to carefully grab the feathers on the back of the Hippogriff's neck before she was soaring upward. It was nothing like a broomstick. The Hippogriff's wings beat uncomfortably on either side of her so Aileen adjusted her leg placement. She moved so that her legs rested on the muscles just above the wings, and leaned forward slightly like a horse racer would.

Buckbeak flew up and away from the paddock. Aileen wasn't sure how, but she directed him over the lake, keeping him low, by the placement of her arms and knees. But other than this she let the Hippogriff fly freely – the both of them enjoying the feeling of the wind whipping against them and the freedom that enveloped them. After a few minutes Aileen directed Buckbeak back to the paddock were he flew once around and headed back to the ground. As the hippogriffs front quarters hit the ground Aileen let go of his feathered neck and leaned backwards so that she didn't get thrown forward over his neck.

"Good work, Aileen!" roared Hagrid as everyone except Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle cheered. "Okay, who else wants a go?"

Emboldened by Aileen's success, the rest of the class climbed cautiously into the paddock. Hagrid untied the Hippogriffs one by one, and soon people were bowing nervously, all over the paddock. Neville ran repeatedly backward from his, which didn't seem to want to bend its knees. Ron and Hermione practiced on the chestnut, while Aileen stood back with So̱ti̱ría and watched.

Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle had taken over Buckbeak. He had bowed to Malfoy, who was now patting his beak, looking disdainful.

"This is very easy," Malfoy drawled, loud enough for Aileen to, hear him. "I knew it must have been, if Potter could do it...I bet you're not dangerous at all, are you?" he said to the Hippogriff. "Are you, you great ugly brute?"

Without thinking Aileen ran forward and placed herself between Malfoy and the Hippogriff, pushing the boy back and onto the ground. In a flash of steely talons Aileen felt a searing pain in her arm before Hagrid was wrestling Buckbeak back into his collar as he strained to get at Malfoy, who lay curled in the grass, clutching his arm that had caught something sharp – most likely the knife he carried in his sleeves.

Aileen turned on the boy, grabbing him by the collar and pulling him to his feet – completely ignoring the blood that was pouring from her own arm.

"You idiotic boy. If you had listened to Professor Hagrid's instructions at the start of the lesson you would have known that insulting a Hippogriff would have dire consequences. If I had not stepped in-between you that scratch would have been far worse." Aileen glared - her normally calm eyes churning like the ocean during a storm. "Crabbe, take him up to the hospital wing, I'm sure madam Pomfrey would love to know how you got that scratch on a knife you carry in your sleeves despite weapons being banned from school grounds without permission from the headmaster."

Crabbe didn't dare disagree as he grabbed Malfoy's arm and escorted him off to the hospital wing.

"Class dismissed!" Hagrid called to the shocked group of students who started to drift of. "Aileen, you should get your arm looked at too." Hagrid said as they made their way to his hut, So̱ti̱ría hovering worriedly around her.

"It's alright, I'll be able to patch it up without going to Madam Pomfrey." Aileen promised. Once they were in his hut Aileen got a clean bowl of water and a towel from Hagrids cupboards and cleaned out the cut that was now only bleeding sluggishly. Then she ran her wand along the cut, causing it to scab over.

"Ferula" Aileen murmured causing bandages to appear. It would stop the scab from being torn and reopening the wound.

"'Spect it's a record," Hagrid said thickly from his seat once Aileen lowered her arm. "Don' reckon they've ever had a teacher who lasted on'y a day before."

"They aren't going to fire you Hagrid," Aileen said confidently.

"Yeah, it wasn't your fault." Hermione agreed.

"It was that git, Malfoy's. He didn't listen to you and his injury wasn't caused by the hippogriff." Ron agreed.

"I had better go and speak with Madam Pomfrey and Dumbledore - explain why two students were injured." Hagrid said abruptly.

Aileen, Ron and Hermione went back down to Hagrid's latter that night. They knew that something bad was going to happen because of the way the students at the Slytherin table sat and talked. They were probably thinking of a way of spinning the lesson in such a way as to get Hagrid fired.

"What happened?" Hermione asked once they were all seated in Hagrid's hut - So̱ti̱ría sat curled with his head on Aileen's lap.

"School gov'nors have bin told, o' course," said Hagrid miserably. "They reckon I started too big. Shoulda left Hippogriffs fer later...done flobberworms or summat...Jus' thought it'd make a good firs' lesson's all my fault..."

"It's all Malfoy's fault, Hagrid!" said Hermione earnestly.

"We're witnesses," said Aileen. "You said Hippogriffs attack if you insult them. It's Malfoy's problem that he wasn't listening. Besides he wasn't injured by the Hippogriff. We'll tell Dumbledore what really happened."

"Yeah, don't worry, Hagrid, we'll back you up," said Ron.

Tears leaked out of the crinkled corners of Hagrid's beetle-black eyes. He grabbed both Aileen and Ron and pulled them into a bone-breaking hug much to So̱ti̱ría's annoyance since he was knocked from Aileen's lap.

"Listen, it was good of yeh ter come an' see me, I really -" Hagrid stopped dead, staring at Aileen as though he'd only just realized she was there.

"WHAT D'YEH THINK YOU'RE DOIN', EH?" he roared, "YEH'RE NOT TO GO WANDERIN' AROUND AFTER DARK, AILEEN! AN, YOU TWO! LETTIN' HER!"

Hagrid made to stride overand grab Aileenbut So̱ti̱ría wasn't having any of it. He stood in front of Aileen and barked angrily, most likely recognising Hagrid's tone and movement as threatening. Aileen spoke quickly, her voice sharp enough to stop Hagrid in his tracks and So̱ti̱ría quietened to a growl.

"I have not been informed that I am to remain in the castle after dark. Curfew had yet to hit so we decided to come down and see you – good thing too since you had just gotten out the ale to drown your sorrows." Aileen's eyes narrowed. "I refused to be confined to the castle just because people believe that Sirius Black might attack me." Aileen stated firmly.

"As that might be, it's nearly curfew now. I'm takin' yer all back up ter school." Hagrid said after a moment.

Over the next few nights Aileen would spent two hours with Hagrid pouring over the limited Care resources and Hagrid infinite knowledge on creatures to create a suitable syllabus for the entire year. Aileen did the writing – briefly outlining when Hagrid would speak about the creatures and a few key things that they needed to know. Just like she had done with the history syllabus, she called up old exam papers and class schedules to help Hagrid make his.

For third year they started with the friendlier and common creatures that would engage the students but not cause them any harm. There was a list of twelve of the most common creatures one was to come across in Britain or Europe that they would go over throughout the year plus a further ten safe, cute creatures that wouldn't be on the test but Hagrid and Aileen agreed were important to know.

Fourth year was slightly more advanced, going into category two and three creatures. This list also included learning about beings such as goblins, centaurs, house-elves, werewolves and vampires (the last two of which were also touched on in defence against the dark arts). Aileen didn't like how beings were classes as creatures by the examiners but Hagrid new the distinction and promised to emphasis it when he got to that block of five lessons.

Then in year fifth and sixth year they dealt with the category four creatures. This included creatures such as the thestral (which Aileen learnt where the skeletal horses that pulled the carriage), mer-people, phoenix, unicorn, Pegasus, trolls, giants and fire-crabs.

Seventh years began with a recap of all the creatures they had dealt with in the previous years before they went onto the category five creatures – Aileen extracting a promise from Hagrid that the only class five creature he would actually show the class were Acromantulas and that he would keep it in a cage so as to not endanger the students (she got a similar promise about the trolls and fire-crabs which were the only class four creatures he had on his list that would hurt a student).

By writing out this plan (which Aileen created three copies off) it showed that Hagrid had learnt the error of his first lesson and would now be focusing more on age appropriate creatures. This meant that the board of governors couldn't fire him (which also helped Dumbledore with his defence of Hagrid).

Malfoy didn't reappear in classes until late on Thursday morning, when the Slytherins and Gryffindors were halfway through double Potions (the only class that was double up, but according to the elder Weasley's was just the start. From their fourth year on wards, more lessons started doubling up. Potions was the first to double up because it was taking longer to brew the assigned potions, and Professor Snape also spoke for about thirty minutes at the beginning of most lessons – something he didn't do in the previous years since they learnt the theory through their homework). Malfoy swaggered into the dungeon, his right arm covered in bandages and bound up in a sling, acting, in Aileen's opinion, as though he were the heroic survivor of some dreadful battle.

"How is it, Draco?" simpered Pansy Parkinson. "Does it hurt much?"

"Yeah," said Malfoy, putting on a brave sort of grimace. But Aileen saw him wink at Crabbe and Goyle when Pansy had looked away.

"Settle down, settle down," said Professor Snape idly.

Ron scowled; Snape wouldn't have said 'settle down' if they'd walked in late, he'd have given them detention. But Malfoy had always been able to get away with anything in Snape's classes; he wouldn't punish his own students in front of the class. Fortunately, if Malfoy did something that obviously crossed the line, eh would immediately be punished as Snape had showed at breakfast that first morning.

They were making a new potion today, a Shrinking Solution. Malfoy set up his cauldron right next to Aileen and Ron, so that they were preparing their ingredients on the sametable.

"Sir," Malfoy called, "sir, I'll need help cutting up these daisy roots, because of my arm -"

"Weasley, cut up Malfoy's roots for him," said Snape without looking up.

Ron went brick red.

"There's nothing wrong with your arm," he hissed at Malfoy.

Malfoy smirked across the table.

"Weasley, you heard Professor Snape; cut up these roots."

Ron seized his knife, pulled Malfoy's roots toward him, and began to chop them roughly, so that they were all different sizes.

"Professor," drawled Malfoy, "Weasley's mutilating my roots, sir."

Snape approached their table, stared down his hooked nose at the roots, then gave Ron an unpleasant smile from beneath his long, greasy black hair.

"Change roots with Malfoy, Weasley."

"But, sir -!" Ron had spent the last quarter of an hour carefully shredding his own roots into exactly equal pieces.

"Now," said Snape in his most dangerous voice.

Ron shoved his own beautifully cut roots across the table at Malfoy, then took up the knife again.

"And, sir, I'll need this shrivelfig skinned," said Malfoy, his voice full of malicious laughter.

"Potter, you can skin Malfoy's shrivelfig," said Snape, giving Aileen the look of loathing he always reserved just for her.

Aileen took Malfoy's shrivelfig as Ron began trying to repair the damage to the roots he now had to use. Aileen used quick, precise movements and skinned Malfoy's shrivelfig in a matter of seconds before passing them back to Malfoy without speaking. Malfoy was smirking more broadly than ever.

"Seen your pal Hagrid lately?" he asked them quietly.

"None of yourbusiness," said Ron jerkily, without looking up while Aileen carefully added the next ingredient to her solution that, for now, was looking the right colour and consistency.

"I'm afraid he won't be ateachermuch longer," said Malfoy in a tone of mock sorrow. "Father's not very happy about myinjury-"

"An injury sustained by your own stupidity." Aileen informed him, her eyes focused on the frog she was dissecting so that she could get to the heart.

"…he's complained to the school governors. And to the Ministry of Magic. Father's got a lot of influence, you know. And a lasting injury like this" - he gave a huge, fake sigh - "who knows if my arm'll ever be the same again?"

"I have been training under madam Pomfrey," Aileen spoke softly so as to not attract Snape's attention. "If your injury had been serious I would have stemmed the flow of blood and sealed the wound before sending you to Madam Pomfrey. However, your knife only cut 5mm into the skin, missing all the nerves that would have caused lasting movement damage. A simply healing spell, a mild pain reliever and two days would have been enough to completely heal your arm leaving no reminder as to what happened." Aileen informed him, her eyes focused on the five caterpillars that she was cutting into eight identical portions each because they needed to be added exactly fifteen seconds after the frog heart.

"Weasley, slice my caterpillars for me." Malfoy said getting Ron to glare at him in utter hatred but at Aileen's prompting look he took the caterpillars while Aileen took both of the boy's frogs and effectively dissected them.

A few cauldrons away, Neville was in trouble. Neville regularly went to pieces in Potions lessons; it was his worst subject, and his great fear of Professor Snape made things ten times worse (Aileen had been trying to help him with his fear and his potion making but was not currently having much success). His potion, which was supposed to be a bright, acid green, had turned –

"Orange, Longbottom," said Snape, ladling some up and allowing to splash back into the cauldron, so that everyone could see. "Orange. Tell me, boy, does anything penetrate that thick skull of yours? Didn't you hear me say, quite clearly, that only one cat spleen was needed? Didn't I state plainly that a dash of leech juice would suffice? What do I have to do to make you understand, Longbottom?"

Neville was pink and trembling. He looked as though he was on the verge of tears and Aileen wished to either punch Snape or hug Neville - she was leaning towards punching Snape.

"Please, sir," said Hermione, "please, I could help Neville put it right -"

"I don't remember asking you to show off, Miss Granger," said Snape coldly, and Hermione went as pink as Neville. "Longbottom, at the end of this lesson we will feed a few drops of this potion to yourtoadand see what happens. Perhaps that will encourage you to do it properly."

Snape moved away, leaving Neville breathless with fear.

"Help me!" he moaned to Hermione.

"Hey, Aileen," said Seamus Finnigan, leaning over to borrow Aileen's brass scales, "have you heard? Daily Prophet this morning - they reckon Sirius Black's been sighted."

"Where?" said Ron quickly

while Aileen carefully added five drops of mildew, stirring once clockwise between each drop, and keeping an ear on the conversation going on next to her (thanking the gods her ADHD had developed in such a way that allowed her to focus on multiple things at once without screwing up). On the other side of the table, Malfoy looked up, listening closely.

"Not too far from here," said Seamus, who looked excited. "It was a Muggle who saw him. 'Course, she didn't really understand. The Muggles think he's just an ordinary criminal, don't they? So she phoned the telephone hot line. By the time the Ministry of Magic got there, he was gone."

"Not too far from here ..." Ronrepeated, looking significantly at Aileen who was now stirring her cauldron twenty times clockwise and twenty times anti-clockwise; it seemed both Malfoy and Ron had forgotten that they were supposed to be making a shrinking potion. He turned around and saw Malfoy watching closely. "What, Malfoy? Need something else skinned?"

But Malfoy's eyes were shining malevolently, and they were fixed Aileen. He leaned across the table.

"Thinking of trying to catch Black single-handed, Potter?"

"Yeah, that's right," said Aileen sarcastically as she changed the direction of her stirring.

Malfoy's thin mouth was curving in a mean smile. "Of course, if it was me," he said quietly, "I'd have done something before now. I wouldn't be staying in school like a good boy, I'd be out there looking for him."

"What are you talking about, Malfoy?" said Ron roughly.

"Don't you know, Potter?" breathed Malfoy, his pale eyes narrowed.

"What, that Sirius betrayed his best friends to the Dark Lord and that was what led to their deaths? That Sirius Black is my godfather who has broken out of Azkaban too kill me?" Aileen asked shocking everyone in hearing range into silence – even Ron since she had kept most of her information to herself after seeing their reactions on the train.

Malfoy let out a low, sneering laugh. "Maybe you'd rather not risk your neck," he said. "Want to leave it to the Dementors, do you? But if it was me, I'd want revenge. I'd hunt him down myself."

"What's the point in revenge when justice can be given through a fair trial and appointed punishments that have been put in place by our government?" Aileen said calmly turning her flame down so that the cauldron could simmer.

"You should have finished adding your ingredients by now; this potion needs to stew before it can be drunk, so clear away while it simmers and then we'll test Longbottom's..." Snape called across the class.

Crabbe and Goyle laughed openly, watching Neville sweat as he stirred his potion feverishly. Hermione was muttering instructions to him out of the corner of her mouth, so that Snape wouldn't see. Aileen packed away her equipment, whipped down her table then went to wash her hands and ladles in the stone basin in the corner.

The end of the lesson in sight, Snape strode over to Neville, who was cowering by his cauldron.

"Everyone gather 'round," said Snape, his black eyes glittering, "and watch what happens to Longbottom's toad. If he has managed to produce a Shrinking Solution, it will shrink to a tadpole. If, as I don't doubt, he has done it wrong, his toad is likely to be poisoned."

The Gryffindors watched fearfully. The Slytherins looked excited. Snape picked up Trevor the toad in his left hand and dipped a small spoon into Neville's potion, which was now green. He trickled a few drops down Trevor's throat.

There was a moment of hushed silence, in which Trevor gulped; then there was a small pop, and Trevor the tadpole was wriggling in Snape's palm.

The Gryffindors burst into applause. Snape, looking sour, pulled a small bottle from the pocket of his robe, poured a few drops on top of Trevor, and he reappeared suddenly, fully grown.

"Five points from Gryffindor," said Snape, which wiped the smiles from every face. "I told you not to help him, Miss Granger. Class dismissed."

Aileen, Ron, and Hermione climbed the steps to the entrance hall. Ron was seething about Snape.

"Five points from Gryffindor because the potion was all right! Why didn't you lie, Hermione? You should've said Neville did it all by himself!"

Hermione didn't answer. Ron looked around.

"Where is she?"

Aileen turned too. They were at the top of the steps now, watching the rest of the class pass them, heading for the Great Hall and lunch.

"She was right behind us," said Ron, frowning.

Malfoy passed them, walking between Crabbe and Goyle. He smirked at Aileen and disappeared.

"There she is," said Aileen, reaching into her bag and pulling out a fruit.

Hermione was panting slightly, hurrying up the stairs; one hand clutched her bag, the other seemed to be tucking something down the front of her robes.

"How did you do that?" said Ron.

"What?" said Hermione, joining them, catching the fruit that Aileen threw her. Hermione glared slightly but began eating it since Aileen had taken to giving her small thing's to eat whenever she would mysteriously disappear then reappear. Aileen didn't know how exactly she was doing it but Aileen knew Hermione was somehow travelling in time to attend all her lessons and get her homework done. Because of this her days were around 36hours long (at a guess from when Hermione disappeared) so Aileen made sure Hermione had plenty of energy.

"One minute you were right behind us, the next moment, you were back at the bottom of the stairs again."

"What?" Hermione looked slightly confused. "Oh - I had to go back for something. Oh no -"

A seam had split on Hermione's bag. Aileen wasn't surprised; she could see that it was crammed with at least a dozen large and heavy books.

"Why are you carrying all these around with you?" Ron asked her.

"You know how many subjects I'm taking," said Hermione breathlessly.

"Hermione do you want me to take your Arithmancy, Ancient Runes and Care books?" Aileen said, picking up the before mentioned books while Hermione repaired her bag with a quick spell. "After all I share those lessons with you."

"That would be great, thanks Aileen." Hermione gave her a brilliant smile before getting her other books and things so that they could be returned to her bag.

"You haven't got any of those subjects today. It's only Defence Against the Dark Arts this afternoon." Ron said confused as the books disappeared into Aileen's bag.

"Oh yes," said Hermione vaguely, before she began marching towards the Great Hall, finishing the fruit Aileen had given her despite the fact that they were heading to lunch.

"D'you get the feeling Hermione's not telling us something?" Ron asked Aileen who simply laughed before jogging to catch up with Hermione.

Rather unusually, when they arrived at the defence classroom, there was no professor there to greet them. However, the door was open so they entered the classroom and found seats near the front. Professor Lupin had already show he was skilled in defence so Aileen had no trouble retake her normal front of the room seat that hadn't been the case since their second defence lesson in first year. Since they didn't know what kind of teacher he was going to be, the students all took out their books, quills and parchment prepared to take notes since it was their first lesson with the man.

Everyone had taken their seats and gotten ready by the time the bell rang and Professor Lupin walked in through the door. He was carrying his batter briefcase with him (most likely containing his lesson notes and the register) which was placed on the desk before the turned to face the class with a vague smile. Despite the shabby state of his robes, he looked much better than he had the night of the train. A couple of good night's sleep and decent food had returned colour and life to the professor's face.

"Good afternoon," Professor Lupin greeted them all his that calm, unassuming voice of his. "Would you please put all your books back in your bags? Today's will be a practical lesson. You will need only your wands."

The defence class that followed was probably the most exciting and educational class their year had ever had.

Instead of staying in the classroom, professor Lupin led them through the classroom to the staffroom which had been emptied. Before he even began the lesson, Professor Lupin earned the classroom respect by not only knowing names prior to the lesson but also by using a spell to send gum up Peeves nose.

Most of the chairs had been cleared to one side in the staffroom and a wardrobe was stood centre of the room. It was the same wardrobe, in fact, that Aileen and Ron had hide in the year before. Inside the wardrobe, Professor Lupin revealed, was a boggart and that was what their lesson was going to be about that day.

"So, the first question we must ask ourselves is, what is a Boggart?" Professor Lupin asked, calmly standing in front of the rattling wardrobe while most of the class eyed it warily.

Hermione put up her hand although she did not appear to be the only one to know the answer, she was the only one who raised her hand. "It's a shape-shifter," she said. "It can take the shape of whatever it thinks will frighten us most."

"Couldn't have put it better myself," said Professor Lupin, and Hermione glowed. "So the Boggart sitting in the darkness within has not yet assumed a form. He does not yet know what will frighten the person on the other side of the door. Nobody knows what a Boggart looks like when he is alone, but when I let him out, he will immediately become whatever each of us most fears.

"This means," said Professor Lupin, choosing to ignore Neville's small sputter of terror since he had mentioned when they entered the staffroom that Neville would be helping him (most likely to prove to Professor Snape that Neville wasn't useless), "that we have a huge advantage over the Boggart before we begin. Have you spotted it, Aileen?"

"There are so many of us so the Boggart won't know what shape it should be." Aileen answered confidently. Monsters were her area of expertise, so applying her normal analysis of weakness and strengths of too magical creatures wasn't that difficult. Especially when she had gone through so many magical creature books when looking for the basilisk last year and she was currently going through even more as she helped finalised Hagrid's lesson plans beyond the basic description he currently had.

"Precisely," said Professor Lupin. "It's always best to have company when you're dealing with a Boggart. He becomes confused. Which should he become, a headless corpse or a flesh-eating slug? I once saw a Boggart make that very mistake - tried to frighten two people at once and turned himself into half a slug. Not remotely frightening. The charm that repels a Boggart is simple, yet it requires force of mind. You see, the thing that really finishes a Boggart is laughter. What you need to do is force it to assume a shape that you find amusing. We will practice the charm without wands first. After me, please...riddikulus!"

"Riddikulus!" said the class together.

"Good," said Professor Lupin. "Very good. But that was the easy part, I'm afraid. You see, the word alone is not enough. And this is where you come in, Neville."

By the end of the second week of school, Defence had become most people's favourite class. Only a select few people found anything bad to say about the man, and most of that criticism wasn't even about what he was teaching. They normally targeted his appearances since Professor Lupin didn't seem to own a single pair of robes that hadn't been sewed back together.

It seemed that Professor Lupin was sticking to the standard third year lesson plan, and was teaching them about all the different magical creatures that were commonly dangerous to wizarding folk (which was why they were in defence and not care). He taught them how to identify and repel creatures from boggarts, to red caps and kappas. He had promised that the further in the material they get, the more dangerous the creatures would become.

A month into the term Aileen finally found some time to herself. She had spent so much of her time in the hospital wing, helping Hagrid, studying,, teaching Ginny how to fly and practising her sword techniques that she had not even had the time to go down to the lake and swim. The last time she had been in such a large body of water was a week after the Chamber incident the year before. However, she could not go down to the lake that night since she had other, more important things, to do.

It was a Friday night and Hermione and Ron had turned in early (Aileen may have placed a sleeping potion in Hermione's cup). As soon as she was on her own Aileen left the Gryffindor common room and headed into the Chamber of Secrets. Dumbledore was still arranging with the goblins a time for them to come in and harvest the basilisk. He had sent a note saying it would probably take until the Christmas break for the goblins to have everything arrange and for their best curse breaker to be finished with his current mission (the same curse breaker the headmaster also wanted to hire to look at the wards).

As she ventured through the tunnel leading to the chamber, she cast repetitive cleaning spells and structural support spells, as well as banishing charms to get rid of the skeletons. She had made sure to research the spells last year and over the holidays because she knew she would be returning although she hadn't anticipated returning alone. However, she didn't want to wait and she figured it was probably safer for her to secure the chamber since she was of Slytherins magic before she invited any guest down.

When she got to the collapsed part of the tunnel she cast an overpowered repair followed swiftly by a support spell. Once everything had stopped moving and she was sure the ceiling was secure, she cast her standard banishing and cleaning charm to get rid of the remaining rocks, skeletons and dirt.

Her routine was broken when she came across the skin of the basilisk. It did not look any different from what it had a few months prior. Aileen carefully lit a fire then levitated the skin into it: "For you dad, makes some use out of it." Aileen whispered as it disappeared. Unlike the children at camp Half-blood she could not make daily sacrifice to her father – instead a couple of large ones once in a while would have to do. She was confident that there were other skins in the basilisk's nest, and she wanted to make a worthy sacrifice to her father.

When she got to the main chamber Aileen used her powers over water to clean the room and sent the water out through the pipes and up to the lake that rested above her and to the left (she could sense it) before blocking of the entrance to prevent any more water from entering. Following were her water had gone, she started casting support spells and preservation spells. Luckily the basilisk hadn't started decomposing yet due to the magic of the beast. With the preservation spells on the chamber, it should stop the decomposition from happening and also keep out any more water or rodents.

With that done, Aileen began explore the main part of the chamber. Behind the statue of the old man (opened with the same password she had seen Tom use), there was a wide chamber were it was clear the basic had spent the majority off it's time. Like she had predicted there was at least seven shed skins (from what she could see) and teeth that had fallen out. Aileen cleared away the dust, but otherwise left all of it untouched as she searched along the walls.

Eventually she found a door. It opened to the same paseltongue password as the other doors she had come across so far (when she left she also made a mental note to try that password on the statue: there's a good chance Tom was just grand standing).

The door opened slowly to reveal a room that took Aileen's breathe away. It was large and lined with bookshelves. Down the middle of the room was another five rows of books. By the looks of things there was around five/six thousand books in the room. Aileen carefully walked into the room, taking in the lack of dust, and wondered between the shelves. The books were obviously old but, when she pulled one of the shelf, in good condition. When she got to the other side of the room Aileen saw a group of three green chairs arranged around a large fire. And above the fire was…

"Salazar Slytherin." Aileen breathed.

Salazar Slytherin looked like the statue that resided in the chamber, but there were several clear differences. Slytherin had shoulder length black hair that was tied back at the nape of his neck, he had emerald green eyes, pale skin and the sharp features that most aristocratic lords generally had. The painting was fall body and from what Aileen could tell he was tall with broad shoulders that fell away into slim hips. He was wearing a forest green tunic, fit to his body so that Aileen could see muscles and his wore black leggings that fit to his shapely legs. Tied at the man's hip was a long, thin sword that was light and efficient instead of heavy like Godric Gryffindor's sword.

"A decedent?" Slytherin hummed turning his intense gaze to Aileen and examining her petit frame, thin shoulders, heart shaped face, long plaited hair and Hogwarts uniform that she was still wearing.

"Not by blood, lord Slytherin." Aileen answered slightly hesitant as she recalled the inheritance test she had taken at the bank. It said she was the heir by magic, most likely because she had defeated he previous heir and he had transferred magic to her at the same time.

"What do you mean? Only a blood heir of mine could enter this chamber." Slytherin said, his sharp eyes narrowing dangerously.

"Your heir, Tom Riddle attacked me and there was a transfer of magic. I hold a connection to him and it is believed that is how I have the ability to speak with snakes. No one in my family had this ability before me because my mother was a non-magical born and my father a pureblood from Gryffindor's line. It could not have come from my ancestry. When I went to Gringotts and got an inheritance test done, it showed I was the Slytherin Heir through magic." Aileen explained.

"Tom Riddle?" Slytherin asked.

"Yes, he is a descendent of your oldest son." Aileen elaborated, remembering the family trees she had poured over in the hopes of getting her answers.

"I have not had a visitor here since my son's grandchild." Salazar informed her.

"But Tom found the chamber fifty years ago." Aileen informed the founder, confused. Not understanding how the boy who was viewed as a genius could not find this room.

"I am telling you the truth child." Slytherin answered, his tone slightly sharp.

"I'm sorry, Lord Slytherin, I did not mean to sound like I was doubting you. But Tom was, and still is, a genius. The fact that he did not look for another room here is just shocking." Aileen hastened to explain, not wanting to offend one of the greatest magicals in the history of the wizarding world.

"Tell me of him." Slytherin ordered.

"Tom is a half-blood. I believe it was his mother who was the witch but I am not certain. For reasons I don't know, he grew up an orphan in non-magical London. At the time there was a war going on, in the non-magical world as well as the magical. I doubt his childhood would have been ideal." Aileen answered easily, calling on all the knowledge she had research and memorised when she realised who Voldemort was and that she was a target.

"When he was introduced to magic at the age of elven, Tom finally found somewhere to belong. He excelled in all areas of magic, was handsome and charming. He later became prefect and head boy. However behind the mask of the charming boy, Tom had started to go dark. He found the chamber in his sixth year and unleashed the basilisk on the school. When a student died and the school was threatened to be closed he framed a student and closed the chamber. For this he received an award for special services to the school." Aileen explained.

Slytherin's eye's had narrowed in anger when she mentioned the attack on the students. "Why did he attack the students?"

"He believes non-magicals and those born of non-magical blood to be inferior."

"Why would he believe such a thing?" Slytherin asked confused.

"You are believed to be one of the most evil wizards in our history. It is believed that you led a campaign against all non-magicals and non-magical borns. That you left the basilisk in the chamber so that your decedents could finish your work." Aileen answered.

"I DID NOT SUCH THING!" Slytheirn roared. "I may not have wanted the mundane families aware, I may have wanted a separate school for mundane born and I may have advertised that mundane borns should be taken from their families early on in life; but I never wanted them murdered."

"Unfortunately, this has been twisted over time. Tom's actions later on in his life has not helped your cause either." Aileen replied softly.

"What did he do?" Slytherin ask cautiously, dreading to know what had been done in his name by his blood.

"He went out and started a group that he called the Death Eaters. He began a war – trying to take over the magical world. He wished to eradicate mundanes, use mundane born's as sport and make the magical world completely pureblood. He even changed his name to one he believed that everyone would one day fear – Voldemort. There was a group that opposed him, the Order of the Phoenix, which is led by the current Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore. My parents where in that group and they paid the price for fighting for what they believed in. They were murdered by Voldemort in person, when I was only one year old. However Voldemort was thrown from his body and left nothing but a wreath. I met him the last two years, here in Hogwarts – he is attempting to get a body back so that he may continue his war against the wizarding world."

"And how did you come by the chamber?" Slytherin asked.

"Tom had left an imprint of himself inside a diary when he realized that he would have to close the chamber. This diary then possessed a first year and forced her to open the chamber. Several students where petrified and the school was about to close when myself and a friend found the location of the chamber. My friend, I and our fraud of a defence teacher entered the chamber because my friend's sister had been taken into the chamber. She had already been down there several hours and we did not have time to locate a competent teacher. I got separated from the two of them and proceeded on alone. I faced the memory of Tom and was forced to kill the basilisk."

"There was magic cast on her, to stop her from attacking any of the students and only answering the command of my heir. It seemed that time had made it so she could no longer recognize when she was being ordered to attack those she was asked to protect." Slytherin said sadly.

"There was only one death and that occurred outside the entrance to the chamber. It could have easily been an accident. I think that maybe she did recognize that what she was being asked to do was defying her previous orders." Aileen said, trying to comfort the painting.

"Are my heir by more than magic." Slytherin suddenly said after a moment of silence.

"What?" Aileen asked confused, not sure how the man came to that conclusion.

"It is impossible to transfer the gift of pasletongue in a magical transfer, even if you had ended my line in magical combate." Slytherin explained. "Only someone of my blood could speak pasletongue. You said your mother was mundane born?" he asked. Aileen nodded. "Then there is a chance that she is one of my oldest grandson's great decedents. My grandson was born without magic, as were all his children. However they all carried the possibility to speak parsletongue. If you were born to a powerful pureblood father it could have activated the recessive gene in your mother. You came my heir because you were of the secondary line and you showed yourself to be greater than the primary."

Aileen took a deep breath at this revelation. "I will need to go to Gringotts, and have a family tree done as opposed to just a blood test. It will show if my mother was one of your decedents." Aileen decided.

"What are you planning on doing with the room?" Salazar asked.

"I'll return soon and take out any books written in parseltongue or anything you don't want to be given to the public. At some point in the next few months, I'll be leading a group down into the chamber to harvest the basilisk. The money will then be used to found a search of Hogwarts's wards and to replace dangerous equipment." Aileen explained to the founder.

"A worthy goal. I will go over the books in the library, and give you a list of those I don't want getting into the public hands. However, much of the books in this room contains knowledge that I think the students will benefit from – particularly the older ones. Even the books written in parseltongue will be of great use."

"I won't keep them from the population but I will need to translate them." Aileen explained. "I'll leave a list on your desk of the titles of the books I'm translating, and I'll give the headmaster the titles of the books I've removing. I'll keep them safe in the Black family library when I go and see it over the summer." Aileen promised.

With the start of October, there was another responsibility on Aileen's time even though she was no longer helping Hagrid with his lesson plans (they had finished them and he was just following what they had written now). instead of the three hours a week (Normally on the Saturday or after care), she was dedicating to Hagrid, she know had at least five hours a week dedicated to Quidditch practise since the season had started again.

The first Thursday of the month, Oliver called team meeting, even Ginny was invited. Having learnt his lesson from the year before, Oliver called the meeting in the even so that his team was awake and could actually take in the information that was being imparted.

"This is our last chance - my last chance - towinthe Quidditch Cup," he told them, striding up and down in front of the team. He was more anxious this year than he had been for the last two, since he was now in his seventh year and he wanted to in the cup at least once since he had joined the team. "I'll be leaving at the end of this year. I'll never get another shot at it."

"Gryffindor hasn't won for seven years now. Okay, so we've had the worst luck in the world - injuries - then the tournament getting called off last year." Wood swallowed, as though the memory still brought a lump to his throat. "But we also know we've got the best - ruddy - team - in - the - school," he said, punching a fist into his other hand, the old manic glint back in his eye. "We've got three superb Chasers."

Wood pointed at Alicia, Angelina, and Katie who smiled back at him. Her first year when Aileen had been unconscious during the last match they had been able to score one hundred points between them, and with Wood guarding the goals, they had only lost by seventy points when the Ravenclaws caught the snitch as had been inevitable.

"We've got two unbeatable Beaters."

"Stop it, Oliver, you're embarrassing us," said Fred and George together, pretending to blush.

"We've got a Seeker who has never failed to win us a match!" Wood rumbled, glaring at

Aileen with a kind of furious pride.

"And we have, quit probably, the best reserve flyer in the history of the school." Oliver said, causing Ginny to blush violently. Ginny would watch from the ground and if she was needed in any position but beater, take to the air. She was best as either a chaser or a seeker, but she wasn't half bad as a keeper. "And me," he added as an afterthought.

"We think you're very good too, Oliver," said George.

"Spanking good Keeper," said Fred.

"The point is," Wood went on, resuming his pacing, "the Quidditch Cup should have had our name on it these last two years. Ever since Aileen joined the team, I've thought the thing was in the bag. But we haven't got it, and this year's the last chance we'll get to finally see our name on the thing..."

Wood spoke so dejectedly that even Fred and George looked sympathetic.

"Oliver, this year's our year," said Fred.

"We'll do it, Oliver!" said Angelina.

"Definitely,"Aileen and Ginny agreed.

Full of determination, the team started trainingsessions, three evenings a week. The weather was getting colder and wetter, the nights darker, but no amount of mud, wind, or rain could tarnish the team's determination to train and do their best for Oliver.

When she had the time Aileen would go down to the chamber until Salazar gave his permission to remove all twenty parseltongue books and a further ten dark books that he didn't want anyone getting their hands on. He also asked Aileen to take his portrait and place it in the empty classroom she had been using to practise her sword skills in. since he wasn't ready to be revealed to the school, Aileen placed runes on the door to stop anyone from wondering into the classroom

Salazar also gave Aileen the task of finding the other founders. Like Salazar, they had portraits made and then hidden so only their family could speak with them. However, with most of their families losing the knowledge of their location, Salazar wanted them to be reunited and discuss if they wanted to be placed in public once more to guide the students and their school head of house.

Aileen returned to the Gryffindor common room one evening after training, cold and stiff but pleased with the way practice had gone, to find the room buzzing excitedly.

"What's happened?" she asked Ron and Hermione, who were sitting in two of the best chairs by the fireside and completing some star charts for Astronomy.

"First Hogsmeade weekend," said Ron, pointing at a notice that had appeared on the battered old bulletin board. "End of October. Halloween."

"Excellent," said Fred, who had followed Aileen through the portrait hole. "I need to visit Zonko's. I'm nearly out of Stink Pellets."

Aileen rolled her eyes before taking a seat on the floor and grabbing her bag which she had discarded earlier.

"Aileen, I'm sure you'll be able to go next time," she said,noticing the way that Aileen didn't comment. McGonagall had held her back after transfiguration and informed her that she would not be allowed to Hogsmeade despite the fact that her permission slip was signed. "They're bound to catch Black soon. He's been sighted once already."

"It's not fair, that you'll be the only one left behind." Ron said grumbling. "I doubt Black will attempt to attack you while surrounded by people."

Hermione opened her mouth to argue, but at that moment Crookshanks leapt lightly onto her lap. A large, dead spider was dangling from his mouth.

"Does he have to eat that in front of us?" said Ron, scowling.

"Clever Crookshanks, did you catch that all by yourself?" Hermione cooed at her orange feline.

Crookshanks; slowly chewed up the spider, his yellow eyes fixed on Ron.

"Just keep him over there, that's all," said Ron irritably, turning back to his star chart. "I've got Scabbers asleep in my bag."

Aileen sighed, she wanted to go down and visit So̱ti̱ría (she saw him every other day or so but wanted to spend more than an hour with him while talking with Hagrid) or the lake but she still had to finish her star chart. She would have to go to the lake and visit So̱ti̱ría as soon as she could – most likely Halloween – Aileen decided while she pulled her half-finished star chart from her bag. It would stop her from dwelling on the fact that she was being punished with the removal of privileges despite because the teachers seemed to be under the impression that her Sworn Godfather wanted to kill her. There were many flaws in their logic, but she still didn't have enough information to act on it.

Crookshanks was still staring unblinkingly at Ron, flicking the end of his bushy tail. Then, without warning, he pounced.

"OY!" Ron roared, seizing his bag as Crookshanks sank four sets of claws deep inside it and began tearing ferociously. "GET OFF, YOU STUPID ANIMAL!"

Ron tried to pull the bag away from Crookshanks, but Crookshanks clung on, spitting and slashing.

"Ron, don't hurt him!" squealed Hermione; the whole common room was watching ashough Ron and Hermione's interaction were their move time. Normally they would shout at each other but the new dynamic seemed to be that Ron would attack Crookshanks in some way and Ron would end up defending her cat and an argument would begin.

Ron whirled the bag around, Crookshanks still clinging to it, and Scabbers came flying out of the top –

"CATCH THAT CAT!" Ron yelled as Crookshanks freed himself from the remnants of the bag, sprang over the table, and chased after the terrified Scabbers.

George made a lunge for Crookshanks but missed; Scabbers streaked through twenty pairs of legs and shot beneath an old chest of drawers. Crookshanks skidded to a halt, crouched low on his bandy legs, and started making furious swipes beneath it with his front paw.

Ron and Hermione hurried over; Hermione grabbed Crookshanks around the middle and heaved him away; Ron threw himself onto his stomach and, with great difficulty, pulled Scabbers out by the tail.

"Look at him!" he said furiously to Hermione, dangling Scabbers in front of her. "He's skin and bone! You keep that cat away from him!"

"Crookshanks doesn't understand it's wrong!" said Hermione, her voice shaking. "All cats chase rats, Ron!"

"There's something funny about that animal!" said Ron, who was trying to persuade a frantically wiggling Scabbers back into his pocket. "It heard me say that Scabbers was in my bag!"

"Oh, what rubbish," said Hermione impatiently. "Crookshanks could smell him, Ron, how else d'you think -"

"That cat's got it in for Scabbers!" said Ron, ignoring the people around him, who were starting to giggle. "And Scabbers was here first, and he's ill!"

On Halloween morning, Aileen went down to breakfast, not sure what to feel. She had yet to have a good Halloween and she doubted that this Halloween would be any different. She was already being stopped from going with her friends simply because some ministry fools are under the impression that Sirius was after her and the others simply believed it.

Dumbledore didn't interfere since he was still arguing with the minster about the Dementors, the board about funds and the goblins about when they were coming and the price. And that wasn't counting the other two roles he held or the normal paperwork that came with running a school.

"We'll bring you lots of sweets back from Honeydukes," Hermione promised, looking desperately sorry for her.

"Yeah, loads," said Ron. He and Hermione had finally forgotten their squabble about Crookshanks in the face of Aileen's difficulties.

"Don't worry about me," said Aileen smiling softly at her friends. Glad that they were no longer arguing. "I'll see you at the feast. Have a good time."

She accompanied them to the entrance hall, where Filch, the caretaker, was standing inside the front doors, checking off names against a long list, peering suspiciously into every face, and making sure that no one was sneaking out who shouldn't be going.

"Staying here, Potter?" shouted Malfoy, who was standing in line with Crabbe and Goyle. "Scared of passing the Dementors?"

"Yes, Mr Malfoy. That is the reason that the teachers have revoked my privilege of going to Hogsmeade. Because of the Dementors." Aileen answered sarcastically before she turned and made her way up the staircase. She wanted to grab some books to read out on the grounds since it was a sunny day.

Aileen was just passing the defence classrooms, her bag slung over her shoulder, when a voice from inside one of the rooms said, "Aileen?"

Aileen turned to her left to see Professor Lupin, looking around his office door.

"What are you doing?" said Lupin. "Where are Ron and Hermione?"

"Hogsmeade," said Aileen. "They left about ten minutes ago."

"Ah," said Lupin. He considered Aileen for a moment. "Why don't you come in? I've just taken delivery of a Grindylow for our next lesson."

"Grindylow, the water demon." Aileen commented as she followed Lupin into his office. In the corner stood a very large tank of water. A sickly green creature with sharp little horns had its face pressed against the glass, pulling faces and flexing its long, spindly fingers.

"We shouldn't have much difficulty with him, not after the Kappas. The trick is to break his grip. You notice the abnormally long fingers? Strong, but very brittle." The Grindylow bared its green teeth and then appeared to recognise Aileen so it buried itself in a tangle of weeds in a corner.

"Cup of tea?" Lupin said, looking around for his kettle. "I was just thinking of making one."

"That would be lovely," Aileen said softly, surveying the professor. He had started to look warn and tired again. She wondered if he was going to take the opportunity to talk to her about her parents. She knew that he was one of their best friends but he hadn't made any sign that he knew her in the last two months.

Lupin tapped the kettle with his wand and a blast of steam issued suddenly from the spout. "Sit down," said Lupin, taking the lid off a dusty tin. "I've only got teabags, I'm afraid."

"Tea bags are fine," Aileen answered.

"How are you?" Lupin asked, handing the steaming cup of tea over.

"I'm well, and yourself?" Aileen asked.

"Tied, but I'm sure it will pass." The professor said with a careless shrug of his shoulder. "Is there anything bothering you?" he asked after a moment of surveying Aileen who had yet to relax in the chair she was sat in.

"There is a lot bothering me, but I doubt you will be able to answer most of the questions I have." Aileen replied easily.

"How about you ask me a question I might be able to answer?" Lupin said giving her a soothing smile. "Remove some of the things bothering you."

"You know that day we fought the Boggart?"

"Yes," said Lupin slowly.

"Why didn't you let me fight it?" Aileen had a few ideas but she wanted confirmation as to why the man jumped in front of her.

Lupin raised his eyebrows. "I would have thought that was obvious, Aileen," he said, sounding surprised.

"You didn't want the class to see what I feared?" Aileen asked after a moment, searching the older man's eyes.

"I assumed that if the Boggart faced you, it would assume the shape of Lord Voldemort."

Aileen smiled slightly at that. Very few people had the guts to say the man's name. She only knew two people, beside herself, who would dare do it. Headmaster Dumbledore, and now Lupin. "I didn't think of Voldemort," Aileen informed him. Lupin's eyes widened in shock. "I thought of the Dementors."

"I see," said Lupin thoughtfully. "Well, well...I'm impressed. That suggests that what you fear most of all is - fear. Very wise, Aileen."

"I've faced Voldemort several times. And it wasn't the man that scared me. It was the fear of not being able to stop him. The fear that someone was going to die. The fear that he would return. The fear that I wouldn't be strong enough." Aileen said softly.

"You've face Voldemort…?" Lupin began but was interrupted by a knock on the door. "Come in," called Lupin.

The door opened, and in came Snape. He was carrying a goblet, which was smoking faintly, and stopped at the sight of Aileen, his black eyes narrowing.

"Ah, Severus," said Lupin, smiling. "Thanks very much. Could you leave it here on the desk for me?"

Snape set down the smoking goblet, his eyes wandering between Aileen and Lupin.

"I was just showing Aileen my Grindylow," said Lupin pleasantly, pointing at the tank.

"Fascinating," said Snape, without looking at it. "You should drink that directly, Lupin."

"Yes, Yes, I will," said Lupin.

"I made an entire cauldronful," Snape continued. "If you need more."

"I should probably have some again tomorrow. Thanks very much, Severus."

"Not at all," said Snape. He backed out of the room, unsmiling and watchful.

Lupin smiledreassuringly at Aileen's look of worry. She did not recognise the potion that Snape had just placed on the table and she knew the look and smell of all common, and some uncommon, potions that were used in healing. She was steadily working through the more uncommon stuff, but she had little time for healing outside of lesson with madam Pomfrey and they were focusing on basic healing spells and human anatomy right now.

"Professor Snape has very kindly concocted a potion for me," he said. "I have never been much of a potion-brewer and this one is particularly complex." He picked up the goblet and sniffed it. "Pity sugar makes it useless," he added, taking a sip and shuddering.

"Will you be alright?" Aileen asked worriedly. She had grown quite found of this man who used to be a friend of her fathers. He was a brilliant teacher and a kind man. The only probably she had with him was his inability to approach her about her parents and she wouldn't make it easy on him. He had abandoned her for the last twelve year, and if he didn't make the attempt to talk with her about her mum and father, then he obviously didn't want to be in her life like an uncle (as she assumed his role had been when her parents were alive).

"This potion is the only thing that helps. I am very lucky to be working alongside Professor Snape; there aren't many wizards who are up to making it." Professor Lupin took another sip before he drained the goblet and pulled a face.

"Disgusting," he said. "Well, Aileen, I'd better get back to work. See you at the feast later."

"Right," said Aileen, putting down her empty teacup.

Aileen spent the rest of the day by the lake with potion books around her and a journal in her hands. So̱ti̱ría was sat, curled into her side and contently napping. Aileen had played with him for a little while before she sat down and started to work. So̱ti̱ría seemed to understand that it was very important since he had just curled up and watched before he fell asleep.

Aileen was attempting to make a potion that would allow someone to breath underwater. She didn't like the fact that she had to sneak around, going into the lake in the dead of night. If she invented a potion that allowed her to breath underwater then she would no longer have that problem. So far she had only done theory work, but hopefully, with a few more tweaks, she could get to the practical stage. She was taking the day of so she could focus on the potion instead of distracted by everything else she had to work on.

"There you go," said Ron. "We got as much as we could carry."

A shower of brilliantly coloured sweets fell into Aileen's lap. It was dusk, and Ron and Hermione had just turned up in the common room, pink-faced from the cold wind that had picked up about an hour before and looking as though they'd had the time of their lives.

"Thanks," saidAileen as she neatly began putting the sweats into piles that she would transfer to her bedside draw upstairs. It was where she kept all her sweats which were then generally shared during their girl's nights. "What's Hogsmeade like? Where did you go?"

By the sound of it - everywhere. Dervish and Banges, the wizarding equipment shop, Zonko's Joke Shop, into the Three Broomsticks for foaming mugs of hot butterbeer, and many places besides.

"The post office, Aileen! About two hundred owls, all sitting on shelves, all color-coded depending on how fast you want your letter to get there!"

"Honeydukes has got a new kind of fudge; they were giving out free samples, there's a bit, look -"

"We think we saw an ogre, honestly, they get all sorts at the Three Broomsticks -"

"Wish we could have brought you some butterbeer, really warms you up -"

"What did you do?" said Hermione, looking anxious. "Did you get any work done?"

"I had a cup of tea with Professor Lupin, played with So̱ti̱ría and completed what little homework I had left to do." Aileen answered easily. She had come inside about two hours ago and finished the Ancient Runes essay that needed to be in Wednesday. It was the last of the homework she had left to do, and she decided to get it out of the way when the wind picked up and she could no longer work outside.

"What did you talk with professor Lupin about?" Hermione asked.

"Not much, he didn't look too healthy." Aileen frowned in worry. "And professor Snape came in with a potion that professor Lupin had to drink. It was not one of the common healing potions. Professor Lupin said it was very complex and not many potion master can, or would, make it. I'm not sure which he meant."

Ron's mouth fell open. "Lupin drank it?" he gasped. "Is he mad?"

Hermione checked her watch. "We'd better go down, you know, the feast'll be starting in five minutes." Since first year, she had gone back to respecting and defending professor Snape now she no longer believed he had betrayed professor Dumbledore.

Aileen quickly put her sweats and bag upstairs before joining her friends as they hurried through the portrait hole and into the crowd, still discussing Snape.

"But if he - you know -" Hermione dropped her voice, glancing nervously around, "if he was trying to - to poison Lupin - he wouldn't have done it in front of Aileen."

"As much as Snape appears to hate Professor Lupin I doubt he would sink as low as to poison someone." Aileen added her thoughts to the conversation before Ron could refute Hermione's logic.

"Yeah, maybe," said Ron as they reached the entrance hall and crossed into the Great Hall. It had been decorated with hundreds and hundreds of candle-filled pumpkins, a cloud of fluttering live bats, and many flaming orange streamers, which were swimming lazily across the stormy ceiling like brilliant watersnakes.

Aileen got several disapproving looks since she was the only student not in school uniform. However they had stopped asking her to wear her uniform on the weekends because there was nothing in the school rules that stated they had to wear their uniform outside of lessons. Ron had not dared wearing his normal cloths and getting on the wrong side of the professors and Hermione respected authority to much. However, there were students (mostly in Slytherin) who had taken to wearing their own cloths during the weekends when Aileen pointed out it wasn't against the rules when they tried to get her in trouble for it.

The food was delicious; even Hermione and Ron, who were full to bursting with Honeydukes sweets, managed second helpings of everything.

The feast finished with an entertainment provided by the Hogwarts ghosts. They popped out of the walls and tables to do a bit of formation gliding; SirNicolas, the Gryffindor ghost, had a great success with a re-enactment of his own botched beheading.

Aileen, Ron, and Hermione followed the rest of the Gryffindors along the usual path to Gryffindor Tower, but when they reached the corridor that ended with the portrait of the Fat Lady, they found it jammed with students.

"Why isn't anyone going in?" said Ron curiously.

Aileen peered over the heads in front of her. The portrait seemed to be closed.

"Let me through, please," came Percy's voice, and he came bustling importantly through the crowd. "What's the holdup here? You can't all have forgotten the password - excuse me -"

And then a silence fell over the crowd, from the front first, so that a chill seemed to spread down the corridor. They heard Percy say, in a suddenly sharp voice, "Somebody get Professor Dumbledore. Quick."

People's heads turned; those at the back were standing on tiptoe.

"What's going on?" said Ginny, who had just arrived.

A moment later, Professor Dumbledore was there, sweeping toward the portrait; the Gryffindors squeezed together to let him through, and Aileen, Ron, and Hermione moved closer to see what the trouble was.

"Oh, my -" Hermione grabbed Aileen's armtightly.

The Fat Lady had vanished from her portrait, which had been slashed so viciously that strips of canvas littered the floor; great chunks of it had been torn away completely.

Word Count: 23,375

Copied: 10,566

Edited: 11/09/2017


	21. Chapter 21: Evidence Edited

Okay, lets start with: I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER. I'm just happily playing in JK's sand box. I DON'T OWN PERCY JACKSON either. I'm only allowed to play on the swing sets (pouts).

So, the next thing on my list of things to put on the top of this story: I've used a lot of the book structure of the first four years. By this I mean Aileen will be face a troll, save a dragon, go down the third floor, be blamed for opening the chamber, reveal her parseltongue abilities in the dueling club, save Ginny and kill the basilisk, and confront Sirius at the end of third year. Aileen will also be entered into the goblet, however she will be complete the tasks completely differently to Harry. If you don't like stories that do this then this isn't the story for you. Although I divert most majorly from the story line after book four, there are points through the first four years were Aileen dose something that Harry would never do because that is the way I've portrayed my character.

And finally, I have heavily edited the first twenty four chapters. You need to re-read the entire story to understand what happens after that point because it all ties together. By heavily edited, I mean nearly 40% of my story has completely been re-written. There is better characterization, more realistic sword skills and a little bit more on the emotional explanation of my character.

* * *

Chapter 21: Year three: Evidence

After the attack on the Fat Lady, talk about Sirius Black escalated for the next few days. No matter where Aileen went, she always heard a minimum of three conversation about Sirius and how he got into the castle. After the first day, the theories on how he managed it became wilder to the point of impossibility. For example, she heard a theory from a group of Hufflepuff's saying that Black could turn into a flowering shrub.

The canvas containing the Fat Lady was taken down so that it could be repaired. In its place was the canvas of Sir Cadogan who was normally located in the rarely used south tower; normally only seen by lost Divination students. Cadogan was a terrible guard for their common room and no one was happy about it because he spent most of his time challenging people to duels and he changed the password a minimum of twice a day without informing anyone. Normally the seventh year prefect set the password and it would remain for the following week or two before being changed.

 **"He's a complete lunatic,"** Seamus complainedangrily to Percy, the only prefect willing to actually talk with the students,on the second day of having Cadogan as a guard **. "Can't we get anyone else?"**

 **"None of the other pictures wanted the job,"** Percy answered,pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration as he fought off a headache. He had no doubt that there would be other students coming to complain to him but there was nothing he or the other prefects could do about it since the decision had been made and they couldn't overrule their head of house when they didn't have a solution to the problem. **"Frightened of what happened to the Fat Lady. Sir Cadogan was the only one brave enough to volunteer."**

Unlike the rest of the house, Cadogan was the least of Aileen's annoyances and growing problems. She had been annoyed when she was punished by not being allowed to Hogsmeade, now she was beyond that and constantly trying to keep her temper as she was closely watched and followed throughout the day. Techers who normally wouldn't look her way outside of class, were suddenly finding any excuse to walk with her in the corridors, and Percy (acting, Aileen had no doubt, on orders from his mother) followed her everywhere like a guard dog. The only reprieve she had (from Percy, at least) was at Quidditch practise because Percy trusted Fred and George to keep her – and their little sister – safe.

Take make all the ridiculousness worse, Aileen was summoned to McGonagall's office a couple of evenings after Halloween. When Aileen arrived, it was to find McGonagall sat at her desk, looking at Aileen like someone had died.

 **"There's no point hiding it from you any longer, Potter," she said in a very serious voice. "I know this will come as a shock to you, but Sirius Black -"**

 **"I know he's after me,"** Aileentiredly cut across her professor. She didn't know why it had taken two months and an attack for someone to decide she needed to know she was a target, but it was something she was going to bring up with the headmaster during the Christmas break and he can then bring it up with his staff if he wasn't the one to order this information silences. "I overheard a conversation while I was staying at the Leakey Cauldron."

Professor McGonagallappeared quitetaken abackthat Aileen was aware and hadn't shown any signs of stress or fear in the last two months. Any normal student who had been told that they were a target of a mass murder would be seeking help from the adults around them or, at the very least, showing strain. However, Aileen wasn't normal and she had known Voldemort had been trying to kill her since the end of her first year. Even ignoring the fact that she wasn't sure Sirius was after her, she didn't see the point of adding one more person to her list of people who wanted her dead (it currently had Voldemort, most (if nor all) Death Eaters and her Uncle Zeus (even if he didn't know she existed) and most likely her uncle Hades).

 **"I see!"** McGonagall said after a moment of observing her student. **"Well, in that case, Potter, you'll understand why I don't think it's a good idea for you to be practicing Quidditch in the evenings. Out on the field with only your team members, it's very exposed, Potter -"**

"Professor," Aileen cut across McGonagall once again. "During every Quidditch practice my dog, So̱ti̱ría, is there. If there was anyone there he would be able to at the very at least alert us. We are on brooms and I am more than capably of dodging spells. And if that isn't enough, the combined knowledge of the team will be enough to defend ourselves with until a teacher arrives." Aileen spoke calmly, not letting her anger and frustration with her teachers show since it wouldn't get her anywhere. "Besides, what are the chances that Black will actually attempt to attack me while I am flying in the air on a broom that travels at too fast a pace for a spell to hit unless he is very good which is unlikely to be the case after twelve years in Azkaban in which h would have lost much of his co-ordination without treatment?"

Professor McGonagall had no response to this.

 **The weather worsened steadily as the first Quidditch match drew nearer. Undaunted, the Gryffindor team was training harder than ever under the eye of Madam Hooch –** who McGonagall had insisted on attending the practises once she had pulled self together after Aileen left her office. McGonagall said she felt better with a one of the teachers watching the practise and not just So̱ti̱ría who was taking is guarding duty very serious (he didn't like leaving Aileen's side when she had to return to the castle).

To make matters worse, during the final training session before the match, Oliver came barring unwanted news.

 **"We're not playing Slytherin!" he told them, looking very angry. "Flint's just been to see me. We're playing Hufflepuff instead."**

 **"Why?" chorused the rest of the team,** they had developed their strategy to face Slytherin and not Hufflepuff who used completely different tactics. It was very underhanded for a team to pull out at the last moment since both of the teams who would then be playing would be at a disadvantage since neither team was training to face each other and in the case of the new team playing, they wouldn't have been training as hard because they weren't expected to play for another month.

 **"Flint's excuse is that their Seeker's arm's still injured," said Wood, grinding his teeth furiously. "But it's obvious why they're doing it. Don't want to play in this weather. Think it'll damage their chances..."**

 **There had been strong winds and heavy rain all day, and as Wood spoke, they heard a distant rumble of thunder.** Aileen wandered why Zeus was so angry because normally they didn't get thunder storms until mid-December. She hope he was angry about something in their world as opposed to him learning something about her father that she knew he was keeping secret (namely her and her brother).

 **The day before the match, the winds reached howling point and the rain fell harder than ever.** The lake turned uneasily and Aileen felt a deep pit of anger in her stomach; anger that did not belong to her. It seemed something had happened to anger her father, and because of her connection with the ocean she was getting the backlash. Her thoughts the day before seemed to be biting her in the ass – whatever had angered Zeus did indeed have something to do with her father. Hopefully that had nothing to do with her since she didn't want to die by lightening.

 **It was so dark inside the corridors and classrooms that extra torches and lanterns were lit. The Slytherin team was looking very smug indeed, and none more so than Malfoy. "Ah, if only my arm was feeling a bit better!" he sighed as the gale outside pounded the windows.**

 **Oliver Wood kept hurrying up to** Aileen **between classes and giving her tips** (despite the fact that Aileen flew the Seeker position better then Wood could comprehend as he had once comment when she pulled of a diving sloth-barrel role) **. The third time this happened, Wood talked for so long that** Aileen **suddenly realized she was ten minutes late for Defense Against the Dark Arts, and set off at a run with Wood shouting after her, "Diggory's got a very fast swerve,** Aileen **, so you might want to try looping him -"**

Aileen **skidded to a halt outside the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, pulled the door open, and** walked **inside.**

 **"Sorry I'm late, Professor.** I had left my defence book in the tower." Aileen spoke softly, not even faltering when she noticed it **wasn't Professor Lupin who looked up at her from the teacher's desk** but Professor **Snape.**

 **"This lesson began ten minutes ago, Potter, so I think we'll make it ten points from Gryffindor. Sit down."**

"Of course, professor." Aileen quickly moved to her seat. "Will Professor Lupin be okay: did he go and see Madam Pomfrey last night?" Aileen asked as she sat down.

"It's **nothing life-threatening,"** Professor Snape answered **, looking as though he wished it were. "As I was saying before Potter interrupted, Professor Lupin has not left any record of the topics you have covered so far -"**

 **"Please, sir, we've done Boggarts, Red Caps, Kappas, and Grindylows," said Hermione quickly, "and we're just about to start -"**

 **"Be quiet," said Snape coldly. "I did not ask for information. I was merely commenting on Professor Lupin's lack of organization."**

 **"He's the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher we've ever had," said Dean boldly, and there was a murmur of agreement from the rest of the class. Snape looked more menacing than ever.**

 **"You are easily satisfied. Lupin is hardly overtaxing you - I would expect first years to be able to deal with Red Caps and Grindylows."**

"Professor Lupin informed us that he was using the first half of the year to teach us what we had not been taught in the last two years." Aileen spoke softly. "He has notes in the top draw of his office desk but I think he keeps it locked."

Professor Snape paused and looked at Aileen with narrowed eyes. A flash of something passing before his eyes too fast for her to identify before he continued with what he had been saying. " **Today we shall discuss -"** He **flick through the textbook, to the very back chapter, which he** knew **they hadn't covered** yet **. "- werewolves," said Snape.**

 **"But, sir," said Hermione, seemingly unable to restrain herself, "we're not supposed to do werewolves yet, we're due to start Hinkypunks -"**

 **"Miss Granger," said Snape in a voice of deadly calm, "I was under the impression that I am teaching this lesson, not you. And I am telling you all to turn to page 394." He glanced around again. "All of you! Now!"**

 **With many bitter sidelong looks and some sullen muttering, the class opened their books.**

 **"Which of you can tell me how we distinguish between the werewolf and the true wolf?" said Snape.**

 **Everyone sat in motionless silence; everyone except Hermione, whose hand, as it so often did, had shot straight into the air.**

 **"Anyone?" Snape said, ignoring Hermione.** Aileen raised her hand as well. Professor Snape narrowed his eyes but motioned to Aileen.

"There are many differences between the Weres and a true wolf. The first differences is that a Were will only transform the night of the fall moon, otherwise they are a normal human being. While on the night of the fall moon the Weres differs from the true wolf in several of their physical futures. A true wolf is similar to that of a large hound because hounds are decedents of the true wolf. However a true wolf has longer, more powerful legs, longer ears, bigger feet and a narrower chest compared to their domestic descendants. On average they range between 3-4 feet tall and from head to tail they are 4-6 feet. A Were has a long snout, small, rounded ears, golden eyes, little to no fur, broad chests and can stand up to two feet taller than their human forms. This means some Weres can reach up to 7 to 8 feet."

"Mostly correct however your description is not complete."

Aileen got very little sleep that night. She spent it sat on the window sill listening to **the sounds of the thunder rumbling overhead, the pounding of the wind against the castle walls, and the distant creaking of the trees in the Forbidden Forest.** Aileen **knew better than to think the match would be cancelled; Quidditch matches weren't called off for trifles like thunderstorms. Nevertheless, she was starting to feel very apprehensive.**

At about six o'clock she showered and changed before heading down to breakfast. Aileen had just started on her second cup of tea when **the rest of the team had turned up.**

 **"It's going to be a tough one," said Wood, who wasn't eating anything.**

 **"Stop worrying, Oliver," said Alicia soothingly, "we don't mind a bit of rain."**

 **But it was considerably more than a bit of rain. Such was the popularity of Quidditch that the whole school turned out to watch the match as usual, but they ran down the lawns toward the Quidditch field, heads bowed against the ferocious wind, umbrellas being whipped out of their hands as they went.**

 **The team changed into their scarlet robes** (Aileen made sure that she had her wand and dagger secured to her person and that her glasses were spelled to repel the water) **and waited for Wood's usual pre-match pep talk, but it didn't come. He tried to speak several times, made an odd gulping noise, then shook his head hopelessly.**

Seeing that Oliver wasn't going to say anything and the rest of the team looked nervous Aileen took it upon herself to help motivate the team. "Guys, we are facing the Hufflepuffs. They have probably been training to face the Ravenclaws and not the Gryffindors and since their first match isn't until January they probably weren't training as hard as we were. We've been out on that pitch nearly every day for the last two months no matter the weather. We couldn't be more prepared if we tried. We are good. We've got some of the most well organised and synchronized Chaser that I have ever seen. Beater that don't miss their mark. A keeper who's probably a shoe in for the professional league. I've not lost a Snitch yet, and I don't plan on starting now. So stand proud because we are going to go out there and beat the Hufflepuffs. Who's with me?"

"We are!" the team cheered and Oliver gave her a thankful smile before beckoning everyone to follow him.

 **The wind was so strong that they staggered sideways as they walked out onto the field. If the crowd was cheering, they couldn't hear it over the fresh rolls of thunder.** Much to Aileen's relief that was no lightening in the sky – not yet anyway.

 **The Hufflepuffs were approaching from the opposite side of the field, wearing canary-yellow robes** and looking as nervous about this game as the Gryffindors had done in the changing rooms **. The Captains walked up to each other and shook hands; Diggory smiled at Wood but Wood now looked as though he had lockjaw and merely nodded.** Aileen **saw Madam Hooch's mouth form the words, "Mount your brooms." Madam Hooch put her whistle to her lips and gave it a blast that sounded shrill and distant - they were off.**

Aileen **rose fast, but her Nimbus was swerving slightly with the wind** – her slight form acting against her in such ferocious winds. Cedric would have the advantage in this whether since he was larger than her, and a decent wait while she was small and underweight.

 **Within five minutes** everyone **was soaked to** their **skin and frozen.** Aileen flew around the pitch, keeping an eye out for the snitch through the heavy rain while trying to learn the pull of the wind so she could fly with it, as opposed to against it. **She lost track of time. It was getting harder and harder** to keep a secure grip on her broom as the wind picked up and the temperature dropped some more.

 **With the first flash of lightning came the sound of Madam Hooch's whistle;** Aileen **could just see the outline of Wood through the thick rain, gesturing her to the ground. The whole team splashed down into the mud**

 **"I called for time-out!" Wood roared at his team. "Come on, under here –**

 **They huddled at the edge of the field under a large umbrella.**

 **"What's the score?"** Aileen asked having missed most of the game.

 **"We're fifty points up," said Wood, "but unless we get the Snitch soon, we'll be playing into the night."**

"I'm not as heavy as Diggory – this wind has nearly unseated me a couple of times." Aileen explained. "But I'll see what I can do."

 **"Okay, team, let's go for it!"**

Aileen took to the air once again. She needed to be even more careful now because lightning had started flashing across the sky. Luckily for her, it did not appear to be targeted which meant Zeus was not aware of her presents in his domain. Her father had most likely reported about what had angered him the night before or they were arguing it out.

Aileen had just turned to head down to Wood's side of the pitch when a flash of lightning illuminated the snitch. Quickly, without even thinking to look where Diggory was, Aileen shot forward, her Nimbus responding to her touch. She was within five feet of it when the Snitch shot up and she followed, Diggory joining the chase. Together they darted across the pitch, doggedly following the snitch.

Aileen finally pulled ahead of Diggory just enough to stretch out her hand and capture the snitch. However the moment the snitch was safely within her hand something caught her notice. Something that made her blood run cold.

"DEMENTORS!" Aileen shouted, hoping to warn the teachers of their presence. Aileen noticed Diggory pull back and fly towards the teacher's stand while Aileen turned and flew towards the teams who had continued playing. However the Dementors where swarming in the hundreds and many of them split and flew towards her and Aileen was forced to swerve and go the other way in an attempt to lead the Dementors away from her friends. Her vision had started to go black, she could hear screaming in her ears and not even the rain that surrounded her could help.

Aileen dodged around a group of Dementors that had flown in front of her but suddenly there was a flash of lightning right in front of her. Her broom caught fire and she was sent flying, towards the ground and the Dementors that waited hungrily for her. Aileen's vision went black, not able to cope with the pain, shock and memories.

 **"Not** Aileen **, not** Aileen **, please not** Aileen **!"**

 **"Stand aside, you silly girl...stand aside, now..."**

 **"Not** Aileen **, please no, take me, kill me instead -"**

"I told you to stand aside…"

 **"Not** Aileen **! Please...have mercy...have mercy..."**

A shrill voice was laughing, the woman was screaming….

 **"Lucky** someone was able to catch her **."**

 **"I thought she was dead for sure."**

 **"But she didn't even break her glasses."**

Aileen started to become aware of her surrounding's, there were voices talking. Close by from the sounds of it. Her body ached like she was healing from a particularly severe beating and her head felt all fuzzy.

 **"That was the scariest thing I've ever seen in my life."**

Aileen **'s eyes snapped open. She was lying in the hospital wing. The Gryffindor Quidditch team, spattered with mud from head to foot, was gathered around her bed. Ron and Hermione were also there, looking as though they'd just climbed out of a swimming pool.**

 **"** Aileen **!" said Fred, who looked extremely white underneath, the mud. "How're you feeling?"**

 **"What happened?"** Aileen asked, slowly pulling herself up.

"The Dementors kept following you, and then just as Dumbledore cast a spell…" Fred said looking extremely worried.

"Your broom got struck by lightning," said George. "You fell what **must've been - what - fifty feet?"**

 **"We thought you'd died," said Alicia, who was shaking.**

"Someone must have cast a spell to slow you down," Angelina said.

"But no one saw who did it, the teachers were too busy trying to get rid of the Dementors and get the students inside." Ginny spoke up from where she was being hugged by Percy. Both of them looked extremely pale.

 **Hermione made a small, squeaky noise. Her eyes were extremely bloodshot.**

Aileen frowned at that. If she had fallen fifty feet then she should have died, the impact with the ground shattering her bones and possibly pulverising her organs.

"Where's Oliver?"Aileen asked, blinking as she looked around her friends to find the captain missing.

 **"Still in the showers," said Fred. "We think he's trying to drown himself."**

"Why?" Aileen asked confused.

"Because this is the second time you have been injured and still captured the snitch. However, this time, you could have died." Katie spoke up.

"Fred, George, since I'm going to be hospital bound for a few days, would you mind pranking him from his funk?" Aileen asked, turning her attention to the twins who both smirked and saluted her.

"Most gladly." They said together.

 **After ten minutes or so, Madam Pomfrey came over to tell the team to leave her in peace.**

 **"We'll come and see you later," Fred** promised her **. "** Tell you everything we have lined up for Oliver **."**

 **The team** and Percy **trooped out, trailing mud behind them. Madam Pomfrey shut the door behind them, looking disapproving. Ron and Hermione moved nearer to** Aileen **'s bed.**

 **"Dumbledore was really angry," Hermione said in a quaking voice. "I've never seen him like that before. He ran onto the field** just before **you fell. He whirled his wand at the Dementors. Shot silver stuff at them. They left the stadium right away...He was furious they'd come onto the grounds. We heard him -"**

 **"Then he magicked you onto a stretcher," said Ron. "And walked up to school with you floating on it. Everyone thought you were..."**

 **His voice faded, Ron and Hermione looking at her anxiously.**

"I'm alright," Aileen said smiling softly at her friends. "Although I would like to know who caught me so that I might be able to thank them." Aileen added as an afterthought.

They sat in silence for a minute before Hermione spoke. "Aileen, the lightning strike didn't actually hit your broom… but… **when you fell off, it got blown away," said Hermione hesitantly. "And it hit - it hit - oh,** Aileen **\- it hit the Whomping Willow."**

Aileen's eyes widened at that. She had hoped that there might be a chance her broom had survived, but if it hit the Whomping willow then the broom did not stand a chance – despite the protective magic she had coated it in as well as what came standard with a broom (she was paranoid after her first game).

 **"Professor Flitwick brought it back just before you came around," said Hermione in a very small voice.**

 **Slowly, she reached down for a bag at her feet, turned it upside down, and tipped a dozen bits of splintered wood and twig onto the bed.** From what she could see there were several pieces of lightly scorched wood but because it had not been hit directly the broom would have survived the lightning – although she imagined the spell integrity would have been damaged.

 **Madam Pomfrey insisted on keeping** Aileen **in the hospital wing for the rest of the weekend.** Aileen spent her time putting her broom back together and reading. She knew that she should have just let Madam Pomfrey throw the broom away but it was the first boom she ever had – it was a symbol of the first time she felt free – and although it was broken she wanted to keep it. In memory of those times.

 **She had a stream of visitors, all intent on cheering her up. Hagrid sent her a bunch of earwiggy flowers that looked like yellow cabbages, and Ginny Weasley turned up with a get-well card she had made herself, which sang shrilly unless** Aileen **kept it shut under her bowl of fruit. The Gryffindor team visited again on Sunday morning, this time accompanied by Wood, who** had been turned orange with green hair. **Ron and Hermione left** Aileen **'s bedside only at night** and for lessons **.**

Rom and Hermione stayed so that they could cheer her up but they did not know the actually reason she was worried. The Dementors had come near her twice and this time she had nearly died. She didn't know why they seemed fixated on her but she needed to find a way of fighting them. She did not like the weak, overwhelmed feeling she felt every time she was around them. She vowed to find Professor Lupin and ask him to teach her the spell he used to repel the Dementors.

 **It was a relief to return to the noise and bustle of the main school on Monday, where she was forced to think about other things, even if she had to endure Malfoy's taunting. Malfoy was almost beside himself with glee at** Aileen fainting and spending a week in the infirmary **. He had finally taken off his bandages, and celebrated having the full use of both arms again by doing spirited imitations of** Aileen **falling off her broom** (conveniently forgetting the lightning) until he was caught doing so by a teacher and giving detention and lose of house points. That same afternoon was their defence class.

 **"If Snape's teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts again, I'm skiving off," said Ron as they headed toward Lupin's classroom after** **lunch;** he had gotten in trouble for punching Malfoy moments before Professor Flitwick had stepped in and given Malfoy detention for bullying. He had had enough of dealing with Slytherins that day and wanted to avoid Snape after punching 'his favourite student' as Ron put it **. "Check who's in there, Hermione."**

 **Hermione peered around the classroom door.**

 **"It's okay!"**

 **Professor Lupin was back at work.** Aileen frowned in worry when she took in his appearance. There had been two incidents in the last two months were he had come to lesson pale and with bags under his eyes, but that was nothing to his appearance now. His robes were hanging from his frame a bit more than normal, like he had hardly eaten in the last week and he had deep shadows beneath his eyes.

Despite how his health was still obviously suffering, he smiled in greeting as the class took their seats. The third years took this as their cue to explode into a jumbled mess of complained about Professor Snape and his behaviour over the two lessons he had covered while Professor Lupin was recovering.

 **"It's not fair, he was only filling in, why should he give us homework?"**

 **"We don't know anything about werewolves -"**

"-Or Vampires -"

 **"- two rolls of parchment!"**

 **"Did you tell Professor Snape we haven't covered them yet?" Lupin asked, frowning slightly** as he picked up that the class was taught vampires and werewolves in the class that Professor Snape had covered.

 **The babble broke out again.**

 **"Yes, but he said we were really behind -"**

 **"- he wouldn't listen -"**

 **"- two rolls of parchment!"**

 **Professor Lupin smiled at the look of indignation on every face,** particularly the student who was horrified about the amount of homework that professor Snape had assigned **.**

 **"Don't worry. I'll speak to Professor Snape. You don't have to do the** **essay** on vampires and I will ask for the one on werewolves to make sure it is marked fairly considering your lake of foreknowledge of the subject **."**

 **"Oh no," said Hermione, looking very disappointed. "I've already finished it!"**

 **They had a very enjoyable lesson. Professor Lupin had brought along a glass box containing a Hinkypunk, a little one-legged creature who looked as though he were made of wisps of smoke, rather frail and harmless looking.**

 **When the bell rang, everyone gathered up their things and headed for the door,** Aileen **among them, but –**

 **"Wait a moment,** Aileen **," Lupin called. "I'd like a word."**

Aileen **doubled back and watched Professor Lupin covering the Hinkypunk's box with a cloth.**

 **"I heard about the match," said Lupin, turning back to his desk and starting to pile books into his briefcase, "and I'm sorry about your broomstick. Is there any chance of fixing it?"**

"I can put it back together but the damage was too extensive, even if the tree hadn't broken it to pieces. My broom won't be able to take to the skies again."

 **Lupin sighed. "They planted the Whomping Willow the same year that I arrived at Hogwarts. People used to** **play** **a game, trying to get near enough to** **touch** **the trunk. In the end, a boy called Davey Gudgeon nearly lost an eye, and we were forbidden to go near it. No broomstick would have a chance."**

"Professor, the Dementors appeared at the match," Aileen began.

 **Lupin looked at her quickly. "Yes, I** know **. I don't think any of us have seen Professor Dumbledore that angry. They have been growing restless for some time...furious at his refusal to let them inside the grounds...I suppose they were the reason you fell?"**

"No, I nearly got hit by lightning, but I doubted I would have been able to hold on much longer, they had been closing in on me when the lightning hit. But Professor, I was wondering if you could teach me how to fight them?"

 **"I don't pretend to be an expert at fighting Dementors,** Aileen **\- quite the contrary..."**

"Please professor, I could barely stay conscious when one Dementor was near me and I nearly died during that Quidditch match. I can't keep going like this – not if they continue to guard the school."

 **Lupin looked into** Aileen **'s determined face, hesitated, then said, "Well...all right. I'll try and help. But it'll have to wait until next term, I'm afraid. I have a lot to do before the holidays. I chose a very inconvenient time to fall ill."**

 **Two weeks before the end of the term, the sky lightened suddenly to a dazzling, opaline white and the muddy grounds were revealed one morning covered in glittering frost.** It seemed that whatever had angered her father and Zeus had passed and they'd calmed enough to let Khione do her thing.

The castle, like every year, had started taking on its normal festive buzz. Professor Flitwick had already demonstrated the use of several different charms in his lesson while decorating the room with lights that took on the appearance of real, fluttering fairies. Between classes and homework, students were excitedly discussing their plans for the holiday.

Just like the year before, the Weasleys and Hermione were staying at Hogwarts. Each of the them used different excuses, but Aileen wasn't fooled. They were staying to keep her company and she couldn't say she wasn't grateful since she liked spending her Christmas with her friends. However, she did feel bad for Mr and Mrs Weasley who wouldn't have all their children together, nor would she be able to sneak away to meet the headmaster as easily (she refused to take her friends down to the chamber).

 **To everyone's delight, there was to be another Hogsmeade trip on the very last weekend of the term** to allow the older students to do their Christmas shopping without parent supervision.

 **"We can do all our Christmas shopping there!" said Hermione. "Mum and Dad would really love those Toothflossing Stringmints from Honeydukes!"**

Aileen arrange to spend most of the day with Madam Pomfrey although she made sure to put three hours aside to be out with So̱ti̱ría. She had not had the time to spend with him after the Quidditch match and it made her regret promising that So̱ti̱ría wouldn't enter the castle. These days she sees him for a couple of hours once a week when she visits Hagrid and she always allowed him to watch their Quidditch matches and practises.

 **On the Saturday morning of the Hogsmeade trip,** Aileen **bid good-bye to Ron and Hermione, who were wrapped in cloaks and scarves, then turned up the marble staircase alone, and headed** towards the Hospital Wing **. Snow had started to fall outside the windows, and the castle was very still and quiet.**

 **"Psst -** Aileen **!"**

 **She turned, halfway along the third-floor corridor, to see Fred and George peering out at her from behind a statue of a humpbacked, one-eyed witch.**

 **"What are you doing?" said** Aileen **curiously. "How come you're not going to Hogsmeade?"**

 **"We've come to give you a bit of festive cheer before we go," said Fred, with a mysterious wink. "Come in here..."**

 **He nodded toward an empty classroom to the left of the one-eyed statue.** Aileen **followed Fred and George inside. George closed the door quietly and then turned, beaming, to look at** Aileen **.**

 **"Early Christmas present for you,** Aileen **," he said.**

 **Fred pulled something from inside his cloak with a flourish and laid it on one of the desks. It was a large, square, very worn piece of parchment with nothing written on it.**

"I take it the parchment is charmed?" Aileen asked, gently running her hand along the surface of the paper that felt so familiar to her.

"Most heavily," Fred commented.

 **"** What does it do **?"**

 **"This,** Aileen **, is the secret of our success," said George, patting the parchment fondly.**

 **"It's a wrench, giving it to you," said Fred, "but we decided last night, your need is greater than ours."**

 **"Anyway, we know it by heart," said George. "We bequeath it to you. We don't really need it anymore."**

"And what does it do?" Aileen inquired curiously.

 **"Explain, George."**

 **"Well...when we were in our first year,** Aileen **\- young, carefree, and innocent -"**

Aileen **snorted. She doubted whether Fred and George had ever been innocent.**

 **"…well, more innocent than we are now - we got into a spot of bother with Filch."**

 **"We let off a Dungbomb in the corridor and it upset him for some reason -"**

 **"So he hauled us off to his office and started threatening us with the usual -"**

 **"- detention -"**

 **"- disembowelment -"**

 **"- and we couldn't help noticing a drawer in one of his filing cabinets marked Confiscated and Highly Dangerous."**

 **"Don't tell me -" said** Aileen **, starting to grin** as she realised were their conversation was going.

 **"Well, what would you've done?" said Fred. "George caused a diversion by dropping another Dungbomb, I whipped the drawer open, and grabbed - this."**

 **"It's not as bad as it sounds, you know," said George. "We don't reckon Filch ever found out how to work it. He probably suspected what it was, though, or he wouldn't have confiscated it."**

 **"And you know how to work it?"**

 **"Oh yes," said Fred, smirking. "This little beauty's taught us more than all the teachers in this school."**

George **took out his wand, touched the parchment lightly, and said, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."**

 **And at once, thin ink lines began to spread like a spider's web from the point that George's wand had touched. They joined each other, they crisscrossed, they fanned into every corner of the parchment; then words began to blossom across the top, great, curly green words, that proclaimed:**

 **Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs  
Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers  
are proud to present  
THE MARAUDER'S MAP**

 **It was a map showing every detail of the Hogwarts castle and grounds. But the truly remarkable thing were the tiny ink dots moving around it, each labelled with a name in minuscule writing. A labelled dot in the top left corner showed that Professor Dumbledore was pacing his study; the caretaker's cat, Mrs. Norris, was prowling the second floor; and Peeves the Poltergeist was currently bouncing around the trophy room. And as** Aileen **'s eyes travelled up and down the familiar corridors, she noticed something else.**

 **This map showed a set of passages she had never entered. And many of them seemed to lead –**

 **"Right into Hogsmeade," said Fred, tracing one of them with his finger. "There are seven in all. Now, Filch knows about these four" - he pointed them out - "but we're sure we're the only ones who know about these. Don't bother with the one behind the mirror on the fourth floor. We used it until last winter, but it's caved in - completely blocked. And we don't reckon anyone's ever used this one, because the Whomping Willow's planted right over the entrance. But this one here, this one leads right into the cellar of Honeydukes. We've used it loads of times. And as you might've noticed, the entrance is right outside this room, through that one-eyed old crone's hump."**

 **"Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs," sighed George, patting the heading of the map. "We owe them so much."**

 **"Noble men, working tirelessly to help a new generation of lawbreakers," said Fred solemnly.**

"I know these names," Aileen murmured, her finger gently tracing them.

"Really, from where?" the twins looked like they might ponce on her.

"They attended Hogwarts about twenty years ago, at the same time as my father." Aileen answered remembering the stories she had found.

"Do you know who they are?" George asked.

"I'm not sure, I have an idea but I don't want to tell you encase I'm wrong." Aileen answered.

 **"Right," said George briskly,** understanding the logic behind what Aileen had said **. "Don't forget to wipe it after you've used it -"**

 **"- or anyone can read it," Fred said warningly.**

 **"Just tap it again and say, "Mischief managed!" And it'll go blank."**

 **"So, young** Aileen **," said Fred, in an uncanny impersonation of Percy, "mind you behave yourself."**

 **"See you in Honeydukes," said George, winking.**

Aileen leaned forward and kissed them both on the cheek. "Thanks." Aileen whispered to them both with a wicked smirk making them both blink in shock and turn red.

After a moment they left the room, both smirking in a satisfied sort of way.

Aileen sighed and placed the parchment gently into her bag before continuing on to the hospital wing. She knew that the twins wanted her to go to Hogsmeade however she had a lesson with Madam Pomfrey to attend. As much as she would like to visit the village, her want to heal others was far more pressing.

When Ron and Hermione returned later that day they were both quite pale and worried. They had overheard a conversation between the Minister, Professor McGonagall, Hagrid, Flitwick and Rosmerta (the owner of the Three Broomsticks). Apparently they had been discussing Sirius Black and the fact he was Aileen's Godfather. How he had not only betrayed his best friends but also murdered another. He killed his friend in such a violent way that there was only a finger left.

Aileen frowned once they had finished talking. If Sirius Black had blown up Pettigrew then there would have been more than just a finger left. The teeth and most of the bones would have survived as would various pieces of skin. If the blast had been big enough to essentially incinerate Pettigrew than it would have killed more than twelve muggles as well as Sirius Black himself. There was something terrible wrong with this story and Aileen's doubt at Sirius's guilt was just growing.

The next day the majority of the school had left for the holidays. Aileen spent the morning finishing of the finally touches to her book on law and then sent it off to Mr Tonks. He would read through it, checking for any errors, and then go to the publishing agency and go through the same process as the last time.

She went down to the common room to find Hermione finishing of her homework and Ron munching on some peppermint humbugs.

"Good morning," Aileen greeted them.

"Morning," Ron nodded.

"Good morning, I was wondering when you were going to come and join us." Hermione commented.

"Sorry, I got distracted," Aileen shrugged carelessly.

"Do you want to go down and see Hagrid, it's been awhile since all three of us went down?" Hermione asked.

"Sure," Ron agreed with Aileen nodding her consent.

 **So they got their cloaks from their dormitories and set off through the portrait hole ("Stand and fight, you yellow-bellied mongrels!"), down through the empty castle and out through the oak front doors.**

 **They made their way slowly down the lawn, making a shallow trench in the glittering, powdery snow, their socks and the hems of their cloaks soaked and freezing. The Forbidden Forest looked as though it had been enchanted, each tree smattered with silver, and Hagrid's cabin looked like an iced cake.**

 **Ron knocked, but there was no answer.**

 **"He's not out, is he?" said Hermione, who was shivering under her cloak.**

 **Ron had his ear to the door.**

 **"There's a weird noise," he said. "Listen - is that Fang?"**

Aileen **and Hermione put their ears to the door too. From inside the cabin came a series of low, throbbing moans.**

"Hagrid!" Aileen called, worry coating her voice.

 **There was a sound of heavy footsteps, then the door creaked open. Hagrid stood there with his eyes red and swollen, tears splashing down the front of his leather vest.**

 **"You've heard?" he bellowed, and he flung himself onto** Aileen **'s neck.**

 **Hagrid being at least twice the size of a normal man, this was no laughing matter.** Aileen wince slightly at the sudden weight, but was able to adjust his grip and heave the larger man back into his cabin. **Hagrid allowed himself to be steered into a chair and slumped over the table, sobbing uncontrollably, his face glazed with tears that dripped down into his tangled beard.**

 **"Hagrid, what is it?" said Hermione, aghast.**

Aileen **spotted an official-looking letter lying open on the table. "What's this, Hagrid?"**

 **Hagrid's sobs redoubled, but he shoved the letter toward** Aileen **, who picked it up and read aloud** so that the other two could find out what was wrong **:**

 **Dear Mr. Hagrid,**

 **Further to our inquiry into the attack by a Hippogriff on** two **students in your class, we have accepted the assurances of Professor Dumbledore that you bear no responsibility for the regrettable incident.**

 **"Well, that's okay then, Hagrid!" said Ron, clapping Hagrid on the shoulder. But Hagrid continued to sob, and waved one of his gigantic hands, inviting** Aileen **to read on.**

 **However, we must register our concern about the Hippogriff in question. We have decided to uphold the official complaint of Mr. Lucius Malfoy, and this matter will therefore be taken to the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures. The hearing will take place on April 20th, and we ask you to present yourself and your Hippogriff at the Committee's offices in London on that date. In the meantime, the Hippogriff should be kept tethered and isolated.**

 **Yours in fellowship...**

 **There followed a list of the school governors.**

 **"Oh," said Ron. "But you said Buckbeak isn't a bad Hippogriff, Hagrid. I bet he'll get off."**

 **"Yeh don' know them gargoyles at the Committee fer the Disposal o' Dangerous Creatures!" choked Hagrid, wiping his eyes on his sleeve. "They've got it in fer interestin' creatures!"**

 **A sudden sound from the corner of Hagrid's cabin made** Aileen **Ron, and Hermione whip around. Buckbeak the Hippogriff was lying in the corner, chomping on something that was oozing blood all over the floor.**

 **"I couldn' leave him tied up out there in the snow!" choked Hagrid. "All on his own! At Christmas."**

Aileen bowed to the proud hippogriff and only once it had inclined its head did she approach and sit at its side. Gently running her hand across his feathers, pulling free several loose once and straightening those that had been ruffled. She was soon joined by So̱ti̱ría who lay down on her other side, obviously wary of the hippogriff.

 **"You'll have to put up a good strong defense, Hagrid," said Hermione, sitting down and laying a hand on Hagrid's massive forearm. "I'm sure you can prove Buckbeak is safe."**

 **"Won' make no diff'rence!" sobbed Hagrid. "Them Disposal devils, they're all in Lucius Malfoy's pocket! Scared o' him! Ad if I lose the case, Buckbeak -" Hagrid drew his finger swiftly across his throat, then gave a great wail and lurched forward, his face in his arms.**

"I'm one of the students that Buckbeak attack, the only one that he injured. Surely the fact that I don't care will mean something?" Aileen frowned.

"No, it will be nothing. They don't care especially since its Malfoy's son…" Hagrid muttered sadly.

 **"What about Dumbledore, Hagrid?" said** Aileen **.**

 **"He's done more'n enough fer me already," groaned Hagrid. "Got enough on his plate what with keepin' them Dementors outta the castle, an' Sirius Black lurkin' around."**

 **"Listen, Hagrid,"** Aileen said softly, **"you can't give up. Hermione's right, you just need a good defense. You can call us as witnesses -"**

 **"I'm sure I've read about a case of Hippogriff-baiting," said Hermione thoughtfully, "where the Hippogriff got off. I'll look it up for you, Hagrid, and see exactly what happened."**

 **Hagrid howled still more loudly.** Aileen **and Hermione looked at Ron to help them.**

 **"Er - shall I make a cup of tea?" said Ron.**

They **stared at him.**

 **"It's what my mum does whenever someone's upset," Ron muttered, shrugging.**

 **At last, after many more assurances of help, with a steaming mug of tea in front of him, Hagrid blew his nose on a handkerchief the size of a tablecloth and said, "Yer right. I can' afford to go ter pieces. Gotta pull meself together..."**

 **Fang the boarhound came timidly out from under the table and laid his head on Hagrid's knee.**

 **"I've not bin meself lately," said Hagrid, stroking Fang with one hand and mopping his face with the other. "Worried abou' Buckbeak, an' no one likin' me classes -"**

 **"We do like them!" Hermione** said **at once.**

"So do the older years. They much prefer your lessons to the old ones." Aileen agreed.

 **"An' them Dementors make me feel ruddy terrible an' all," said Hagrid, with a sudden shudder. "Gotta walk past 'em ev'ry time I want a drink in the Three Broomsticks."**

 **Hagrid went quiet for a moment, staring into his tea. Then he said quietly, "Thought o' jus' letting Buckbeak go ...tryin' ter make him fly away...but how d'yeh explain ter a Hippogriff it's gotta go inter hidin'? An' - an' I'm scared o' breakin' the law..." He looked up at them, tears leaking down his face again. "I don' ever want ter go ter Azkaban."**

Aileen **, Ron, and Hermione went to the library the next day and returned to the empty common room laden with books that might help prepare a defense for Buckbeak. The three of them sat in front of the roaring fire, slowly turning the pages of dusty volumes about famous cases of marauding beasts, speaking occasionally when they ran across something relevant.**

 **"Here's something...there was a case in 1722...but the Hippogriff was convicted - ugh, look what they did to it, that's disgusting -"**

 **"This might help, look - a Manticore savaged someone in 1296, and they let the Manticore off - oh - no, that was only because everyone was too scared to go near it..."**

Three days before Christmas, at just after five, Aileen was stood in the entrance hall with Dumbledore. He had finally gotten everything arranged with the goblins and they were due to arrive with their curse breaker who had just finished his last assignment.

"Ah, Aileen, it's good to see you." The headmaster greeted her with smile.

"Good morning headmaster." Aileen greeted in turn.

"I'm sorry about how early this meeting is, but the goblins only have today and they wanted the extra time to ensure they didn't miss anything." The headmaster said apologetically.

"It's alright, I'm used to getting up early." Aileen waved the headmaster's apologise away. She had already been up for an hour, it didn't bother her at all to be leading the goblins to the chamber. "Bill?" Aileen asked in surprise when she spotted who had joined the conjugant of goblins.

"Merry Christmas, Aileen." Bill greeted in amusement.

"Sorry, wasn't expecting you to be the best curse breaker the goblins had since you're so young." Aileen said in apology. "Merry Christmas to you, as well." turning to the goblins she offered them a bow in greeting when they finished their conversation with the headmaster.

"Aileen, if you could lead the way since you never told me which bathroom the entrance is in?" The headmaster asked, with his eyes twinkling merrily.

"Oh course." Aileen agreed, not remotely repentant that she had kept that information from the headmaster.

"What can you tell us about the chamber?" one of the goblins asked.

"Quite a bit, I'll have to give you access once we get to the main part of the chamber, there's a blood defence on the door and it's easier if I just let you through instead of trying to break the ward." Aileen began.

"How does the access process work?" Bill asked, pulling out note book to make notes.

"There's a snake guardian on the second door, I need to place my hand in the centre and speaking parseltongue, give the names of everyone I'm giving access to and their title." Aileen explained.

"How did you figure this out?" Bill asked with a frown.

"I've returned to the chamber, to clear up the cave in a make sure that you aren't killed." Aileen shrugged.

"That was a very dangerous thing to do." The headmaster abolished.

"I've been in the chamber once and the only thing that harmed me was the basilisk. Since I'm now the heir, I figured I was safe." Aileen shrugged.

"You're the heir?" one of the goblins asked.

"By magic, and I think the secondary blood line but I will have to test that at your bank over the summer." Aileen answered before pushing the door open to the girl's bathroom. "This is the entrance." Aileen motioned to the sink.

Bill stepped forward immediately and started rapidly casting spells over the sink which glowed in response. After nearly five minutes of testing, Bill stopped and started writing in his little book.

"Well?" One of the goblins asked impatiently.

"Salazar Slytherin warded the entrance very well." Bill answered, not looking up from his book. "With six years and a parselmouth, I might have been able to break the wards without completely destroying Hogwarts, but there are so many wards here and they are tied in with what I think are the main Hogwarts wards. So unless I wanted to bring down Hogwarts wards, the protection is flawless."

"How did you learn the passwords?" Bill asked once he had finished writing, turning to Aileen curiously.

"It's just open in parseltongue." Aileen responded in amusement. "Salazar wanted his decedents to be able to access the chamber and a complicated pass phrase would have been easily forgotten."

"When you're ready, Aileen." The headmaster said, amusement clear in his voice at the shocked look on Bill and the goblin's face at such a simple passwords despite the astonishingly strong wards.

"Open. Stairs." Aileen ordered. She had learned when spoke with Salazar that the pipe was charmed to turn into stairs on request, and she figured that the goblins would appreciate the time to examine everything.

Bill cast something on his little note book which had it and the quill hovering, prepared to take notes. "I'll go first, then Aileen so she can lead the way. Headmaster, if you could stay with Aileen encase we unexpectedly trigger something? Master Sharpclaw, if you and the others stay at the back?" Bill took command.

"Of course, master curse breaker." The goblin who had asked Aileen questions accepted his orders.

"Of course, dear boy." The headmaster agreed, drawing his own wand in preparation, not the least bit concerned with taking orders from someone ten times his junior. Bill had more experience in warding and curse breaking then he did, and he understood the need to protect his student first.

Bill lead the way down the stairs, torches that Aileen had fixed, lighting themselves as they went so that no one had to waist magic casting lumos. Bill was casting his detection spells as he went, and his book was recording his results to go over later. When they reached the bottom, the goblins looked around in approval at the way the tunnel had been carved and the detailed mosaics that made up the floor.

"There is a degrading preservation charm on these tunnels. However someone has gone through, casting a strong structural support charm." Bill observed once they were gathered at the bottom.

"The preservation charm on the main chamber is intact and I've strengthen in but I didn't know how it work or how to recast the one in the tunnels so I left it be. When I came back a second time, I had to cast the support spells because there had already been one cave in." Aileen explained when Bill turned to her questioningly.

"There's a secondary ward set around the tunnels, independent of the Hogwarts's wards, originating from about a mile north east of our location. That ward holds the preservation charm, a charm to keep the tunnel intact, one to keep vermin away and a final one to activate what appears to be a capture ward for anyone who enters the tunnel with ill intent. However, they are almost completely gone." Bill listed off his findings.

"So it's safe to proceed?" Sharpclaw clarified.

"For now." Bill agreed as they began the trek down the tunnel, Bill casting as he went.

"This was wear the cave in was." Aileen stopped the group when they were about five feet from the only bend in the tunnel.

"There's a rune here." Bill frowned, carefully casting around the area and not letting anyone proceed. Suddenly he paled and span to face Aileen with wide eyes. "When the tunnel collapsed tell me where the three of you stood?" he demanded.

Aileen frowned in thought. "Lockhart was stood were the headmaster is now."

"Headmaster, don't move." Bill order sharply. "And you and Ron?"

Aileen shifted a pace to the left. "Ron was stood here." Aileen answered. She was now next to Bill who immediately took a step back looking warily around them. "Stepping forward one and a half paces Aileen stopped. "And this was where I was."

"Curesbreaker, what's the problem?" one the other goblin's asked.

"This is the next line of defence." Bill pointed at several runes in the wall that Aileen had never noticed. They were just in line with were Ron had been standing, which explained why Bill stepped back. "If anyone who wasn't an heir stepped passed this point, the whole tunnel is rigged to collapse. You were fortunate Aileen, that when Lockhart attacked he stopped Ron and himself from advanced and only brought down a weak section of the wall."

"This wasn't mentioned in the books. How are you getting passed it then so I can key you into the wards?" Aileen questioned.

"I think you need to key us into the wards first." Bill answered after casting some more spells which coped the runes into his book so he could look over them more carefully. "This wards hasn't degraded and I don't have a weak to cast the cancellation circle and drain the localised magic as I normally would do if I faced something like this without other curse breakers."

"Are you suggesting the girl goes on without a guard?" One of the goblins demanded. He was the most heavily armed off the lot and Aileen assumed the warrior guard.

"She's the heir of Slytherin and has passed through unharmed multiple times." Bill snapped back. "Unless you would like to stay here for a weak or pull another two curse breakers in and wait our fours, having Aileen key us in is the only option."

"I now I'm safe, so I'll go key you in. But I need names and titles." Aileen re-joined the group and pulled some parchment from her pockets.

Once she had the list of names, she left the group. She left Bill's and the headmaster's eyes on her as she left. Neither of them like her going off alone, no matter the fact that they knew she had entered the passage unharmed before.

When she reached the door at the end, Aileen placed her hand in the centre and read the list of names instead of asking the doors to open. By the time she re-joined the group, six minutes had passed.

"Okay, you're all keyed in." Aileen announced.

"We shouldn't have to worry about traps then, but I'll make sure to have everything documented for future use." Bill told them, retaking the lead.

When they finally entered the chamber of secrets itself, Aileen heard both the headmaster and Bill breath in a shocked breath as they stared at the basilisk.

"You killed the beast with a sword?" Goblin worrier Gripshaw demanded.

"Yes." Aileen answered bluntly.

"There aren't any traps in the chamber." Bill told them, his voice slightly thick.

"Then get harvesting." Sharpclaw ordered the other eight goblins who had accompanied them.

"There are teeth and shed skin in the next part of the chamber. And then there's also the library." Aileen reminded Sharpclaw.

"Fangtooth, Dripblood, you are to accompany us to he next chamber." Sharpclaw called to the eight goblin's as they began unshrinking tools and crates.

"Lead the way," Bill ordered.

Aileen led them to the statue of who she had learnt was Salazar's grandfather. Bill cast his usual spells before giving Aileen the go ahead. Once she had opened the door, Bill entered first, still casting. It took him nearly five minutes of clearing the area and going over every bit of magic that he could detect before he deemed it safe for anyone else to enter. Fangtooth and Dripblood immediately got to work while Aileen led the silent headmaster, Sharpclaw and Bill to the library.

"There are just preservation charms on the library." Bill reported.

"Have you taken any book?" the headmaster asked, when he noticed gaps in the shelves.

"Yes. I took anything written in parselscript. I'll translate late them and send them to you. I've also taken out a couple of darks books on Salazar Slytherin's request and I won't let anyone else see them." Aileen answered confidently.

"Salazar Slytherin?" Bill questioned before the headmaster could.

"Yes. He had a portrait here." Aileen motioned to the wall were he used to hung. "He asked for me to remove him. Once I've found the other founders, they'll come to a decision about whether they'll allow themselves to be hung in public. For now, he would like to remain secret."

"If they decide they don't want to hang in public, perhaps you can suggest the headmaster's office. I – and I'm sure my replacements – would benefit greatly from their expertise?" the headmaster request, choosing not to question Aileen's judgement on the books. She had shown herself to be mature beyond her years.

"I'll mention it." Aileen promised.

Sharpclaw left to help the other goblins, while Aileen, the headmaster and Bill began to place the books in boxes. They had to do it one by one to ensure that the preservation charms were holding on each book and they also wrapped them in cloth to further protect them. While they worked, Aileen and Bill talked.

Christmas eve, Aileen continued with her normal routine and once everyone was asleep she headed down to the lake. For the first time since the end of second year she submerged herself in the calming waters and just allowed the currents to take her where they wanted for a while.

A few minutes later she felt the power of her father begin to form in front of her. Aileen's eyes snapped open and the moment her dad had stepped of the current he had formed around him to reach her she launched herself at him and held on tightly. Not daring to let go. She had missed him greatly.

"Hello, little one," Poseidon said smiling as he returned the hug. "It has been a while since you visited the lake." He observed.

"Yeah, everything has been so busy. I barely find any time for myself these days." Aileen admitted, finally pulling back.

"Indeed, I received the basilisk skin while I was in the middle of a meeting. Zeus was most shocked." Poseidon chuckled remembering the look on his families faces.

Aileen giggled as well. "Did you tell them who sent it to you?" Aileen asked.

"No, they are simply under the impression that I have a half-blood on the way to camp and he faced the basilisk." Poseidon answered his eyes dancing cheerfully.

"What happened to have angered you earlier?" Aileen asked worriedly.

"Oceanus, he attempted to attack one of the smaller groups under my protection."

"I take it you have dealt with him?" Aileen asked, angered that the old titan would dare try and attack her father's people.

"Indeed it will take him a while to cruel back together." Poseidon smirked.

The rest of the time they spent together was used discussing more pleasant topics. Apparently Poseidon had revealed to his son that Aileen existed and Triton would like to meet her. Aileen smiled brightly at this piece of information, she always wanted a big brother (she already had a little brother even if he was not aware of her existence). Just before Poseidon left he gave her a gift. It was a breath taking hair clip that would transform into a bow.

"I've never tried using a bow before." Aileen admitted, holding the beautifully carved bow in her hand. It was made mostly from elder wood but she also noticed some veins of red oak as well. It fit perfectly in her hand but was slightly to long for her but Aileen was sure that would change when she grew.

"Normally my children are not good archers, the only exception to this rule was Orion. However, I believe that this will help you. I have seen your aim, it is precise and deadly. Your hand eye co-ordination is also far better than any of my other children. These things should help you here."

"Thank you," Aileen allowed the bow to return to its clip form and slipped it into her hair.

"You are most welcome," Poseidon smiled and they shared one last hug before Aileen returned to the surface.

On Christmas morning,Aileen got changed into a pair of black jeans and a long sleeved green shirt. Over this she pulled the Weasley sweeter she had gotten the year before. It still fell to below her bum but Aileen didn't care because they were warm and comfortable.

She didn't have to bring the presents down to the common room this year because it appeared as though the House-elves had caught onto her tradition. Aileen took a seat at the windowsill, sipping at her cup of tea while she waited for Ron, Hermione, the twins, Percy and Ginny to wake up and join her.

When the Weasley and Hermione had arisen Aileen took her spot on the floor and began passing around the presents. Hermione had received the complete trilogy of the Lord of the Rings from her parents as well as some cloths. Some custard chocolate from Ron and a Weasley jumper with mince pies from Mrs Weasley. Hermione's jumper was grey with white patterns around the shoulders. Aileen had gotten Hermione a collection of books from R. L. Stevenson and a new watch.

Ron had gotten a sweater, maroon, from his mum and chocolate frogs from Hermione. He had also got presents from each of his siblings: a Chudley Cannon scarf from Charlie, a Chudley Cannon's uniform from Bill and a Chudley cannon's book from Percy (Bill had told her they had co-ordinated) while the twins had gotten their little brother a book on the dangers of Quidditch and why it is so fun. Aileen had gotten him a gift voucher that meant he got 35% of one item from the Quidditch store, valid for the next three years. She had also gotten him a large selection of muggle sweets.

Fred received a sweater from his mum that was blue with a golden F on. Bill and Charlie had complied their money and brought a book that had muggle prank ideas listed within (including step by step instructions). Aileen had gotten him an advanced, step by step guide for the animagus transformation as a further instruction from the basic introduction to the art that was in her gift the year before. She also included a book on starting a business with a note that they should write a proposal for the joke shop.

George also received a sweater from his mum that was blue except it had a golden letter G on. Bill and Charlie had again combined their money to buy a very old, complex book on charms and how to combine them with potions to get a certain effect. Aileen had brought George an advanced book on potions that makes the processes simple and easier to remember. It also included a list of interactions between ingredients that could be used to help him create a new potion.

Ron, Percy, Lee, the Quidditch team and the twins other friends brought sweats and prank items but addressed it to both of the twins as opposed to individualising their gifts.

Percy received a green sweater with a purple P on and he had also gotten some homemade mince pies (to be shared between all the Weasleys). He also received something from his girlfriend that he refused to open in front of his brothers. Aileen brought him a copy of her book on law and the revision guides for history (he had decided to continue the subject in NEWT years and Aileen hoped her guides would help him get the O he desired instead of the EE he had gotten at OWL level), Charlie sent him a book on laws across Europe and Bill sent him a book on the history of the ministry and how it first formed (they had been in discussion about what to get Percy and decided to all get something around where Percy wished to go in life).

Ginny received a red sweater with a violet G on from her mother; various sweats from her friends and a brand new dress from Aileen that had the girl squealing in joy and jumping on Aileen to give her a hug. From Luna Lovegood, Ginny received a pair of homemade earrings that matched the dress Aileen had given her.

Aileen received **a scarlet sweater with the Gryffindor lion knitted on the front** and **also a dozen home-baked mince pies, some Christmas cake, and a box of nut brittle** from Mrs Weasley. She immediately replaced one Weasley sweater for the other, getting a pleased smile from the elder Weasley boys. She had gotten a book on the founders from Hermione, new gloves from Ron and a beautifully carved box from Hagrid. From Luna Lovegood (a second year, Aileen had gotten close to her since she was being bullied by the Ravenclaws and Aileen attempted to put a stop to it the year before, and succeed in doing so that year by getting the headmaster to interfere) Aileen had gotten a three year subscription of the Quibbler, a beautiful painting of Hogwarts and a scented candle set. The Twins had gotten with Bill and Charlie to get her two advanced healing books she had yet to buy. Percy had brought her a photo frame like his own, with one of the sections containing a picture of the Weasley family.

With everyone's presents open Fred, George, Ginny and Hermione took their things up to their dorm rooms to be put away. Percy left the common room to meet up with his girlfriend, while the twins promised to return everything to his dorm room (after Aileen made them promised not to prank anything). Before Aileen could bring her own gifts upstairs, she noticed there was a final package under the tree that hadn't been opened and it had her name on it.

 **"What's that?" said Ron,** having still be pilling up his dispersed gifts and so hadn't left the room yet.

"I'm not sure," Aileen carefully pulled the package towards her and opened it to reveal **a magnificent, gleaming broomstick. Ron dropped his** Cannon's scarf **and jumped off his** chair **for a closer look.**

 **"I don't believe it," he said hoarsely.**

 **It was a Firebolt, identical to the dream broom** Aileen had seen **every day in Diagon Alley. Its handle glittered as she** carefully **picked it up. She could feel it vibrating and let go; it hung in midair, unsupported, at exactly the right height for her to mount it. Her eyes moved from the golden registration number at the top of the handle, right down to the perfectly smooth, streamlined birch twigs that made up the tail.**

 **"Who sent it to you?" said Ron in a hushed voice.**

Aileen looked away from the broom and started to go through the wrapping paper. There was no card – not even a note like Professor Dumbledore had sent her when he returned the invisibility cloak. "Nothing," Aileen said frowning worriedly as she drew her wand.

 **"Nothing! Blimey, who'd spend that much on you?"** Ron explained shocked.

 **"Well," said** Aileen, casting different scans over the broom to check for dark or intent based magic. Bill had taught her a couple of charms to go with what she had research, encase she found herself in an unknown environment again **. "I'm betting it wasn't the Dursleys."**

 **"I bet it was Dumbledore," said Ron, now walking around and around the Firebolt, taking in every glorious inch. "He sent you the Invisibility Cloak anonymously..."**

 **"That was my dad's, though," said** Aileen. **"Dumbledore was just passing it on to me. He wouldn't spend hundreds of Galleons on** a student **. He can't go giving students stuff like this -"**

 **"That's why he wouldn't say it was from him!" said Ron. "In case some git like Malfoy said it was favoritism. Hey,** Aileen **-" Ron gave a great whoop of laughter - "Malfoy! Wait 'til he sees you on this! He'll be sick as a pig! This is an international standard broom, this is!"**

Aileen frowned even more, her scans had all come back negative. As far as she could tell the only spells on the broom was the ones that should have been there.

Hermione came back from the dormitory then, carrying Crookshanks in her arm. Aileen's mouth twitched when she noticed the cat was covered in glitter, mostly likely having attacked some of the decorations from their room.

 **"Don't bring him in here!" said Ron, hurriedly snatching Scabbers from the depths of his** wrapping paper **and stowing him in his pajama pocket.**

 **But Hermione wasn't listening. She dropped Crookshanks onto** the chair **and stared, open-mouthed, at the Firebolt.**

 **"Oh,** Aileen **! Who sent you that?"**

 **"No idea," said** Aileen **. "There wasn't a card or anything with it."**

Hermione's **face fell, and she bit her lip.**

 **"What's the matter with you?" said Ron.**

 **"I don't know," said Hermione slowly, "but it's a bit odd, isn't it? I mean, this is supposed to be quite a good broom, isn't it?"**

 **Ron sighed exasperatedly. "It's the best broom there is, Hermione."** He had tried to explain Quidditch and brooms to Hermione several times but the girl just didn't get it.

 **"So it must've been really expensive..."**

 **"Probably cost more than all the Slytherins' brooms put together," said Ron happily.**

 **"Well...who'd send** Aileen **something as expensive as that, and not even tell her they'd sent it?"** questioned Hermione as she worried her lip between her teeth.

 **"Who cares?" said Ron impatiently. "Listen,** Aileen **, can I have a go on it? Can I?"**

 **"I don't think anyone should ride that broom just yet!" said Hermione shrilly.**

"I've already cast as many detection spells as I know and the only spells that are registering are the ones which should be there. But I think I had best take it to Professor McGonagall so that she can run her own scans and maybe contact the manufacture and ask who sent it." Aileen said, agreeing with Hermione's thoughts.

"What? What are you two on about?" Ron demanded.

 **But before Hermione** or Aileen **could answer, Crookshanks sprang from** the chair **, right at Ron's chest.**

"GET - HIM - OUT - OF - HERE!" Ron bellowed as Crookshanks's claws ripped his pajamas and Scabbers attempted a wild escape over his shoulder. Ron seized Scabbers by the tail and aimed a misjudged kick at Crookshanks that hit the

table **, knocking it over and causing Ron to hop up and down, howling with pain.**

 **"You'd better take that cat out of here, Hermione," said Ron furiously, sitting on** achair **nursing his toe. Hermione** huffed but **strode out of the room, Crookshanks's yellow eyes still fixed maliciously on Ron.**

 **Scabbers was huddled in Ron's hands. It had been a while since** Aileen **had seen him out of Ron's pocket, and she was unpleasantly surprised to see that Scabbers, once so fat, was now very skinny; patches of fur seemed to have fallen out too.**

 **"He's not looking too good, is he?"** Aileen commented **.**

 **"It's stress!" said Ron. "He'd be fine if that big stupid furball left him alone!"**

"Ron do you think, that maybe, Scabbers is just getting old?" Aileen said hesitantly. "Most rats wouldn't have survive as long as him."

"He's fine, it's just the stress caused by that bloody cat that is causing him to be unwell." Ron said adamantly.

 **Christmas spirit was definitely thin on the ground in the Gryffindor common room that morning.** When Fred and George emerged from their rooms, they tried to cheer Ron and Hermione up, but they were still to furious with each other over what happened that it wasn't really working. Aileen appreciated their effort, and decided to ignore her bickering friends and enjoy the morning with the twins.

 **At lunchtime** thegroup of five **went down to the Great Hall,** Aileen bringing her broom with her so that she could speak with Professor McGonagall. The twins had agreed with her idea to get it tested, since they didn't want her riding a cursed broom again and Aileen had been doing well in training despite the fact that she was using an old Silver Arrow. It wouldn't effort training to much if she spent another couple of weeks using it if it was to make sure she was safe.

The **House tables had been moved against the walls again, and a single table, set for twelve, stood in the middle of the room. Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, Sprout, and Flitwick were there, along with Filch, the caretaker, who had taken off his usual brown coat and was wearing a very old and rather moldy-looking tailcoat. There were only three other students, two extremely nervous-looking first years and a sullen-faced Slytherin fifth year.**

 **"Merry Christmas!" said Dumbledore as** Aileen **, Ron, and Hermione approached the table. "As there are so few of us, it seemed foolish to use the House tables...Sit down, sit down!"**

"Sir," Aileen said as Ron and Hermione took a seat, leaving a space between them. "I have been sent this broom, except there was no note," Aileen said handing it over to the headmaster who was now frowning in worry. Professor McGonagall and Flitwick also frowned and looked at the broom while Snape's scowl deepened.

 **"It will need to be checked for jinxes," said Professor McGonagall** at once **.**

"Madam Hooch and I will have to strip it down." Flitwick agreed.

 **"Strip it down?" repeated Ron, as though** they had gone **mad.**

 **"It shouldn't take more than a few weeks," said Professor McGonagall. "You will have it back if we are sure it is jinx-free."**

"Of course," Aileen nodded her head and took a seat between Ron and Hermione. Hermione was smiling proudly at her while Ron just gapped. Dumbledore also nodded his head, proud at her mature out look to the situation, as he passed the broom to Professor Flitwick who placed it out of the way while they all sat down for the delicious meal the house elves had prepared.

 **Ron was furious with Hermione. As far as he was concerned, the stripping-down of a brand-new Firebolt was nothing less than criminal damage –** he believed that Aileen only handed the broom over because she was doing what Hermione wanted **. Hermione, who remained convinced that she had acted for the best, started avoiding the common room.** This made Aileen's life extremely difficult. She spent half her time with Hermione and the other half with Ron. When she could no longer cope with their arguing she would retreat to her practise room or the company of the Twins or Neville (when he returned from the Christmas break) **.**

 **Wood sought** Aileen **out on the night** the train returned.

 **"Had a good Christmas?" he said, and then, without waiting for an answer, he sat down, lowered his voice, and said, "I've been, doing some thinking over Christmas,** Aileen **. After last match, you know. If the Dementors come to the next one...I mean...we can't afford you to - well -"**

 **Wood broke off, looking awkward.**

 **"I'm working on it,"** Aileen reassured him. **"Professor Lupin said he'd train me to ward off the Dementors. We should be starting this week. He said he'd have time after Christmas."**

 **"Ah," said Wood, his expression clearing. "Well, in that case - I really didn't want to lose you as Seeker,** Aileen **. And have you ordered a new broom yet?"**

 **"No," said** Aileen **.**

 **"What! You'd better get a move on, you know - you can't ride that** Silver Arrow **against Ravenclaw!"**

 **"She got a Firebolt for Christmas," said Ron.**

 **"A Firebolt? No! Seriously? A - a real Firebolt?"**

 **"Don't get excited, Oliver,"** Aileen said quickly, if he raised his voice any higher the entire common room would hear. " **It was confiscated.** The teachers are checking to make sure it hasn't been jinxed."

 **"Jinxed? How could it be jinxed?"**

 **"Sirius Black,"** Aileen **said wearily. "He's supposed to be after me. So McGonagall reckons he might have sent it."**

 **Waving aside the information that a famous murderer was after his Seeker, Wood said, "But Black couldn't have bought a Firebolt! He's on the run! The whole country's on the lookout for him! How could he just walk into Quality Quidditch Supplies and buy a broomstick?"**

"Mail order. If he still had access to his trust vault then he just needed to fill out the form and sent it to them." Aileen explained.

 **At eight o'clock on** the first **Thursday evening** after Christmas break, Aileen **left Gryffindor Tower for the History of Magic classroom. It was dark and empty when she arrived, but she lit the lamps with her wand and had waited only five minutes when Professor Lupin turned up, carrying a large packing case, which he heaved onto Professor Binn's desk.**

 **"What's that?"** Aileen inquired hesitantly.

 **"Another Boggart," said Lupin, stripping off his cloak. "I've been combing the castle ever since Tuesday, and very luckily, I found this one lurking inside Mr. Filch's** **filing cabinet. It's the nearest we'll get to a real Dementor. The Boggart will turn into a Dementor when he sees you, so we'll be able to practice on him. I can store him in my office when we're not using him; there's a cupboard under my desk he'll like."**

"Okay,"Aileen nodded. It made sense for her to practise against a boggart since her greatest fear was fear itself and it prevented Aileen from being faced with the full effect of a Dementor every week.

 **"So..." Professor Lupin had taken out his own wand, and indicated that** Aileen **should do the same. "The spell I am going to try and teach you is highly advanced magic,** Aileen **\- well beyond Ordinary Wizarding Level. It is called the Patronus Charm."**

 **"How does it work?"**

 **"Well, when it works correctly, it conjures up a Patronus," said Lupin, "which is a kind of anti-Dementor - a guardian that acts as a shield between you and the Dementor. The Patronus is a kind of positive force, a projection of the very things that the Dementor feeds upon - hope, happiness, the desire to survive - but it cannot feel despair, as real humans can, so the Dementors can't hurt it. But I must warn you,** Aileen **that the charm might be too advanced for you. Many qualified wizards have difficulty with it."**

"Because it requires a lot of magic, or for another reason?" Aileen inquired. She wasn't being vain when she said her magical power was greater than most people her age. From what she could tell her magical level was probably about the same as a seventh year.

"I believe it is a combination of focus and power that makes it so hard to cast." Professor Lupin answered after a minute of thought.

 **"What does a Patronus look like?" said** Aileen **curiously.**

 **"Each one is unique to the wizard who conjures it."**

 **"And how do you conjure it?"**

 **"With an incantation, which will work only if you are concentrating, with all your might, on a single, very happy memory."**

Aileen **cast her mind about for a happy memory.** She didn'thave very many of them. **Certainly, nothing that had happened to her at the Dursleys' was going to do. Finally,** she settled on her first Christmas at the castle.

 **"Right," she said, trying to recall as exactly as possible the wonderful,** happy, loved feeling she had felt when she met her father, when she sat on the common room floor with her first friend and his family opening presents. When she saw the proof that there were people who cared about her.

 **"The incantation is this -" Lupin cleared his throat. "Expecto patronum!"**

 **"Expecto patronum,"** Aileen repeatedmaking sure she had the incantation correct, **"expecto patronum."**

 **"Concentrating hard on your happy memory?"**

Aileen nodded, shifting her stance as she focused on the memory. Letting it feel her entire being. Once she was sure she had captured the memory she said forcefully "Expectro Patronum," a wisp of silvery light left her wand and formed a sort of shield in front of her. It grew it be just a bit bigger than her torso and stayed like that for a moment before disappearing.

 **"Very good," said Lupin, smiling.** "First try as well. Most impressive. Are you **ready to try it on a Dementor?"**

"Yes,"Aileen said, moving to the middle of the classroom where she took on a left foot stance. Her right side was the furthest from the case, her wand raised to the middle of her chest while her left hand hung relaxed at her side. It was what she called a 'half duelling stance' since it was close to the pose she would take up when duelling but more relaxed and open.

 **Lupin grasped the lid of the packing case and pulled.**

 **A Dementor rose slowly from the box, its hooded face turned toward** Aileen **, one glistening, scabbed hand gripping its cloak. The lamps around the classroom flickered and went out. The Dementor stepped from the box and started to sweep silently toward** Aileen **, drawing a deep, rattling breath. A wave of piercing cold broke over her –**

Aileen focused, allowing the memory to feel her entire being again. Ignoring the coldness and the memory that was being dragged up. She focused solely on that Christmas.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Aileen said with such force she might as well have shouted it. The silvery wisp left her wand once more and formed a shield between her and the Dementor. The memories and the coldness seemed to fade, becoming nothing but background fuzz.

However she could only hold the shield for thirty seconds before it fell. Professor Lupin leaped between her and the Dementor. Suddenly it changed and a moon hovered in its places.

"Riddikulus" the moon was replaced by a balloon that was swiftly returned to the case that Lupin closed.

 **"Are you all right?"** Professor Lupin asked in concern.

Aileen moved over to the wall and leaned against it, she felt the sweat on her forehead. Even as a boggart, the effects of the Dementor where very strong. "I'm alright."

 **"Here -" Lupin handed her a Chocolate Frog. "Eat this before we try again. I** hadn't **expect you to do it your first time;** I'm astounded that you did, in fact **."**

"I couldn't hold it for very long though," Aileen frowned in worry.

"What memory did you use?" asked Lupin.

"My first Christmas at Hogwarts." Aileen answered.

"Try another memory. A happier memory: the stronger it is the stronger your patronus."

Aileen frowned in thought. After a moment she chose to combination of all the memories she had of her dad. All the feelings she felt for him were positive, happy. They were feelings of love, so she just focused on all of them – even the one from when she was a very small baby (one of the few memories she had of her parents). Aileen then moved to the middle of the room and took up her stance again.

 **"Ready?" said Lupin, gripping the box lid.**

 **"Ready," said** Aileen **.**

 **"Go!" said Lupin, pulling off the lid. The room went icily cold and dark once more. The Dementor glided forward, drawing its breath; one rotting hand was extending toward** Aileen **-**

"

Expecto patronum!"Aileen said. This time quieter than before but the effect was the same. The shield appeared, larger than before and hovered between her and the Dementor. Aileen held it for as long as she could before it fell and Lupin was forced to return the Dementor to its case.

Aileen sank into the nearest chair, feeling exhausted. None of the magic she had tried so far had taken as much from her as casting that spell had.

 **"Excellent!" Lupin said, striding over to where** Aileen **sat. "Excellent,** Aileen!"

"Will I always be as exhausted as that?" Aileen asked after she had gotten her breath back.

"At first yes, but it will get easier." Lupin answered smiling brightly.

 **"Same time next week?"** Aileen asked curiously. Lupin nodded.

 **Ravenclaw played Slytherin a week after the start of term. Slytherin won, though narrowly. According to Wood, this was** great **news for Gryffindor,** if they beat Slytherin in their upcoming match then they were particularly guaranteed the cup **. He therefore increased the number of team practices to five a week. This meant that with Lupin's** Pratonus lessons, Madam Pomfrey's healing lessons and Salazar's potion lessons (he had taken great joy in having an eager student),Aileen **had just one night a week to do all her homework.**

 **Even so, she was not showing the strain nearly as much as Hermione, whose immense workload finally seemed to be getting to her. Every night, without fail, Hermione was to be seen in a corner of the common room, several tables spread with books, Arithmancy charts, rune dictionaries, diagrams of Muggles lifting heavy objects, and file upon file of extensive notes; she barely spoke to anybody and snapped when she was interrupted.** Aileen found it harder getting the other girl to eat and most days she ended up forcing the girl to bed at around midnight so that she would get six solid hours of sleep. Girl's night was practically scrapped in relation to Hermione. When one did happen, Aileen drugged Hermione a little bit earlier and put her to bed while she spent time with her dorm mates.

 **"How's she doing it?" Ron muttered to** Aileen as he took a seat next to Aileen who was just finishing **a nasty essay on Undetectable Poisons for Snape.** Aileen looked across the table at Hermione who **was barely visible behind a tottering pile of books.** She had decided to share a table with her so that she could offer her help with the Hagrid issue that Hermione had tried taking upon herself but Aileen refused to let her.

 **"Doing what?"**

 **"Getting to all her classes!" Ron said. "I heard her talking to Professor Vector, that Arithmancy witch, this morning. They were going on about yesterday's lesson, but Hermione can't've been there, because she was** in Divination **! And Ernie McMillan told me she's never missed a Muggle Studies class, but half of them are at the same time as** Ancient Runes **, and she's never missed one of them either!"**

"Just let it go Ron, if Hermione could tell us she would have done so by now." Aileen said before signing her work and grabbing the transfiguration essay she had to write. She had four days to get it done but would not have the time again so she was getting it all out of the way. **Two seconds later, however, she was interrupted again, this time by Wood.**

 **"Bad news,** Aileen **. I've just been to see Professor McGonagall about the Firebolt. She - er - got a bit shirty with me. Told me I'd got my priorities wrong. Seemed to think I cared more about winning the Cup than I do about you staying alive. Just because I told her I didn't care if it threw you off, as long as you caught the Snitch first." Wood shook his head in disbelief. "Honestly, the way she was yelling at me...you'd think I'd said something terrible. Then I asked her how much longer she was going to keep it..." He screwed up his face and imitated Professor McGonagall's severe voice. "As long as necessary, Wood"...I reckon it's time you ordered a new broom,** Aileen **. There's an order form at the back of Which Broomstick...you could get a Nimbus Two Thousand and One, like Malfoy's got."**

"Oliver, I have work to do. You are already taking up five days of my week, I do not need you taking the only free time I get to do this work. If professor McGonagall doesn't return the broom in two weeks' time I will look into getting another one. Now please leave, I need to get this done." Aileen said, her voice quite but strict.

Aileen's patronus lessons were going slightly better. Each time she cast it the spell was stronger, larger and stayed for longer. However she had yet to be able to drive of the Dementor which was frustrating for her but Professor Lupin had assured her that it would take time. She was already doing far better than most people who attempted the spell and she was only thirteen.

Aileen was on the way back from one of her lesson with Professor Lupin, frowning thoughtfully when she nearly walked into Professor McGonagall.

 **"Sorry, Professor -"**

 **"I've just been looking for you in the Gryffindor common room; well, here it is, we've done everything we could think of, and there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with it at all - you've got a very good friend somewhere, Potter..."**

Professor McGonagall handed the Firebolt back and it looked to be in the same condition as before. "Thank you professor," Aileen smiled gratefully.

 **"I daresay you'll need to get the feel of it before Saturday's match, won't you? And Potter - do try and win, won't you? Or we'll be out of the running for the eighth year in a row, as Professor Snape was kind enough to remind me only last night..."**

Aileen smiled slightly at that and continued on her way back to the Gryffindor common room. She was tired but wanted to get some reading in. She had nearly finished her potion to breath under water but needed to add another ingredient to counter the poisonous effects of the belladonna without negating the effects of the Gillyweed. **She turned a corner** and **saw Ron dashing toward her, grinning from ear to ear.**

 **"She gave it to you? Excellent! Listen, can I still have a go on it? Tomorrow?"**

"Alright, but only after your sister has had ago. She needs to know what it's like to fly on a fast broom," Aileen said, smiling cryptically.

 **They turned into the corridor to Gryffindor Tower and saw Nevill, pleading with Sir Cadogan, who seemed to be refusing him entrance.**

 **"I wrote them down!" Neville was saying tearfully. "But I must've dropped them somewhere!"**

 **"A likely tale!" roared Sir Cadogan. Then, spotting** Aileen **and Ron: "Good even, my fine young yeomen! Come clap this loon in irons. He is trying to force entry to the chambers within!"**

"Surely you have learnt the members of this chamber, good sir?" Aileen replied as she drew near. "For the good lady would have already known the faces and name of every member of this house."

"Ah…yess… well he should still give the password." Sir Cadogan spluttered.

 **"I've lost the passwords!" Neville told them miserably. "I made him tell me what passwords he was going to use this week, because he keeps changing them, and now I don't know what I've done with them!"**

 **"Oddsbodkins," said** Aileen **to Sir Cadogan, who looked extremely disappointed and reluctantly swung forward to let them into the common room. There was a sudden, excited murmur as every head turned and the next moment,** Aileen **was surrounded by people exclaiming over her Firebolt.**

 **"Where'd you get it,** Aileen **?"**

 **"Will you let me have a go?"**

 **"Have you ridden it yet,** Aileen **?"**

 **"Ravenclaw'll have no chance, they're all on Cleansweep Sevens!"**

 **"Can I just hold it,** Aileen **?"**

"ENOUGH!" Aileen called over the excited chattered and questions. "It's just a fricken broom." Aileen said tiredly, heading to the stairs to put it away leaving a mostly stunned common room behind her. Apparently none of them agreed that it was 'just' a broom.

When she returned to the common room Aileen headed over to Hermione, Ron joining her. "Hi, Hermione." Aileen said softly.

"Aileen got her broom back," Ron said smirking. "Nothing wrong with it."

"Well there might have been," Hermione huffed with a glare.

"Ron…" Aileen warned.

 **"I've got to give Scabbers his rat tonic."** Ron said sullenly, turning and leaving the room.

 **"Can I sit down?"** Aileen asked hesitantly.

 **"I suppose so," said Hermione, moving a great stack of parchment off a chair.**

Aileen **looked around at the cluttered table, at the long Arithmancy essay on which the ink was still glistening, at the even longer Muggle Studies essay ('Explain Why Muggles Need Electricity') and at the rune translation Hermione was now poring over.**

"Do you need a hand with anything?" Aileen asked. "I know I don't take divination or Muggle Studies but I'm sure I could help with all the other things. Narrow your research area down."

"No, I'm nearly done," Hermione said, looking for her rune distortionary that Aileen pulled from a stack of books and handed over. Aileen raised a sceptical eyebrow at that. She looked like she hadn't had a decent night's sleep in weeks and she wasn't eating enough food – no matter how much Aileen threw at her.

 **"Why don't you just drop a couple of subjects?"** Aileen asked.

 **"I couldn't do that!" said Hermione, looking scandalized.**

"Hermione you don't like divination and you don't need Muggle Studies. I imagine you could probably take the tests for Muggle Studies without attending any of the lessons."

"No I can't do that…" Why she couldn't Aileen never found out.

 **At that precise moment, a strangled yell echoed down the boys' staircase. The whole common room fell silent, staring, petrified, at the entrance. Then came hurried footsteps, growing louder and louder - and then Ron came leaping into view, dragging with him a bedsheet.**

 **"LOOK!" he bellowed, striding over to Hermione's table. "LOOK!" he yelled, shaking the sheets in her face.**

 **"Ron, what -?"**

 **"SCABBERS! LOOK! SCABBERS!"**

 **Hermione was leaning away from Ron, looking utterly bewildered.** Aileen **looked down at the sheet Ron was holding. There was something red on it. Something that looked horribly like –**

 **"BLOOD!" Ron yelled into the stunned silence. "HE'S GONE! AND YOU KNOW WHAT WAS ON THE FLOOR?"**

 **"N - no," said Hermione in a trembling voice.**

 **Ron threw something down onto Hermione's rune translation. Hermione and** Aileen **leaned forward. Lying on top of the weird, spiky shapes were several long, ginger cat hairs.**

With the death of Scabbers the tension between Ron and Hermione grew worse. Ron was adamant that Crookshanks had eaten Scabbers, while Hermione continued to defend her cat. Aileen tried to stay out of it as much as possibly, diffusing the arguments between her friends when it got out of hand but not taking either side. She hoped that they would be able to figure it out otherwise she didn't know what she would be able to do about it.

Three days after Scabber's death was the Gryffindor vs Ravenclaw match and Aileen left the common room without waiting for her two friends (so that she could act as a buffer) because she didn't think she could handle their arguing on top of her worry about the upcoming match. She had nearly been killed the last time and hoped that the Dementors wouldn't make an appearance and that Zeus hadn't noticed her presents in his domain during the last Quidditch match.

 **At a quarter to eleven, the Gryffindor team set off for the locker rooms. The weather couldn't have been more different from their match against Hufflepuff. It was a clear, cool day with a very light breeze; there would be no visibility problems this time, and** Aileen **, though nervous, was starting to feel** hope that this match would go without problems **. They could hear the rest of the school moving into the stadium beyond.**

 **"You know what we've got to do," said Wood as they prepared to leave the locker rooms. "If we lose this match, we're out of the running. Just - just fly like you did in practice yesterday, and we'll be okay!"** (The only practise Aileen had been able to get on her new broom which meant she was not nearly as compatibly with it as she was her old nimbus)

 **They walked out onto the field to tumultuous applause. The Ravenclaw team, dressed in blue, were already standing in the middle of the field. Their Seeker, Cho Chang, was the only girl on their team. She was** taller **than** Aileen **by about a head.** Stood next to Ginny, who had moved towards the bottom of the Gryffindor posts, was So̱ti̱ría. Like her last match he was barking happily, his tail wagging excitedly behind him. It seemed like only Ginny's hand on his collar stopped him from running around.

 **"Wood, Davies, shake hands," Madam Hooch said briskly, and Wood shook hands with the Ravenclaw Captain. "Mount your brooms ... on my whistle ... three - two - one -"**

Aileen **kicked off into the air and the Firebolt zoomed higher and faster than any other broom; she soared around the stadium and began** looking **around for the Snitch, listening** with half an ear to **the commentary, which was being provided by the Weasley twins' friend Lee Jordan.**

 **"They're off, and the big excitement this match is the Firebolt that** Aileen **Potter is flying for Gryffindor. According to Which Broomstick, the Firebolt's going to be the broom of choice for the national teams at this year's World Championship -"**

 **"Jordan, would you mind telling us what's going on in the match?" interrupted Professor McGonagall's voice.**

 **"Right you are, Professor - just giving a bit of background information - the Firebolt, incidentally, has a built-in auto-brake and -"**

 **"Jordan!"**

 **"Okay, okay, Gryffindor in possession, Katie Bell of Gryffindor, heading for goal..."**

Aileen dived down, interrupt the Ravenclaws beater's aim before he could stop Katie from getting to the goal posts. A few moments later Aileen noticed that Cho Change was tailing her. **She was undoubtedly a very good flier - she kept cutting across her, forcing her to change direction.** Aileen smirked and suddenly she increased her speed, diving down and interrupting Ravenclaw's play while forcing Cho to stop looking for the snitch as she continued trying to tail her.

 **"Gryffindor leads by eighty points to zero, and look at that Firebolt go! Potter's really putting it through its paces now, see it turn - Chang's Comet is just no match for it, the Firebolt's precision - balance is really noticeable in these long -"**

 **"JORDAN! ARE YOU BEING PAID TO ADVERTISE FIREBOLTS? GET ON WITH THE COMMENTARY!"**

 **Ravenclaw was pulling back; they had now scored three goals, which put Gryffindor only fifty points ahead - a glint of gold, a flutter of tiny wings - the Snitch was circling the Gryffindor goal post...**

Aileen increased the firebolt's speed to just below maximum. Surging towards the goal post but the snitch must have sensed her approach. It took a sharp dive down but Aileen followed, the firebolt responding to the slightest touch. The speed and sharp turns was too much for Cho to keep up with since she began to fall behind. Aileen continued diving but out of the corner her eye she noticed three cloaked figures. She would have thought them Dementors if not for the fact that she couldn't feel the effect that she normally felt around Dementors. She dismissed them and continued with her decent.

Meters from the ground her arm came forward and she grabbed the snitch in her hand while pulling up from the ground. Her feet skimmed the grass but she was able to pull herself to a stop and jump from her broom – raising her capture in the air in victory.

Madam Hooch's whistle So̱ti̱ría was on top of her, his wet tongue licking her face excitedly. Aileen laughed and lifted him into her arms despite the fact that he came up to her waist. Then suddenly she and So̱ti̱ría were being hugged by the whole team.

Aileen broke off from the group long enough to veer towards the changing rooms, allowing So̱ti̱ría to come in with her since he hadn't left her side yet. Aileen took a quick shower and changed into the cloths she had laid out for after the match before walking So̱ti̱ría back to Hagrid who was delighted for her. She spoke to him for a few minutes before heading back to the Gryffindor Common room where **the party went on all day and well into the night. Fred and George disappeared for a couple of hours and returned with armfuls of bottles of butterbeer, pumpkin fizz, and several bags full of Honeydukes sweets.**

 **"How did you do that?" squealed Angelina as George started throwing Peppermint Toads into the crowd.**

 **"With a little help from Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs," Fred muttered in** Aileen **'s ear.**

 **Only one person wasn't joining in the festivities. Hermione, incredibly, was sitting in a corner, attempting to read an enormous book entitled Home Life and Social Habits of British Muggles.** Aileen quickly **broke away from the table where Fred and George had started juggling butterbeer bottles and went over to her.** She cast a silencing bubble around the two of them so that she could read the book without being distracted.

"Thanks," Hermione said smiling gratefully.

"When do you need to have that read by?" Aileen asked frowning.

"Monday and **I've still got four hundred and twenty-two pages to read!" said Hermione, sounding slightly hysterical.**

"Other than the bowl of apple, oats and strawberry yogurt you had this morning, what have you eaten?" Aileen asked strictly.

"I…I haven't…." Hermione admitted after a moment. She knew better then to lie to Aileen about this.

"Then eat, once you have eaten you can go back to your book." Aileen ordered pushing a plate of sandwiches towards her. "Then, when it turns eight, I want you to go up to the dorm and get some sleep."

"But…" Hermione tried to protest but her stomach suddenly grumbled loudly so she sighed and grabbed one of the sandwiches. Aileen nodded her agreement before grabbing the Runes essay Hermione had written earlier and reading through it to make sure she hadn't missed anything. It was something Aileen had started doing when she noticed how tired her friend was becoming due to the amount of work she had.

 **The Gryffindor party ended only when Professor McGonagall turned up in her tartan dressing gown and hair net at one in the morning, to insist that they all go to bed.**

While everyone went to bed (including Hermione who Aileen had earlier dragged to the dormitory after locking away all of her work; something Aileen had been forced to do every night for the last few weeks) Aileen stayed up. She was reading through one of the books Salazar had collected/written over his time: this one about the wards around Hogwarts which was more comprehensive and detailed then the one she had found in the restricted section of the library back in first year.

At around three o'clock Aileen was thinking about going to bed when the portrait swung open. Aileen looked up from her book and blinked in shock. The person who stepped through the door was most defiantly not a Gryffindor.

Aileen drew her wand and intercepted the man before he could make his way towards the dormitories.

"Sirius Black," Aileen stated calmly as she watched the man's grey eyes widen in shock.

Sirius Black, for a man who had spent twelve years in Azkaban and another on the run, was not looking too unhealthy. His skin was pale, his hair hanging around his shoulder, but roughly but clean and untangled. He was thin but not dangerously so and he appeared to have found some new, clean cloths. In his hand he gripped a knife – Aileen assumed he had not been able to obtain a wand.

"Aileen," Black whispered, his voice almost sounding hopeful. Yet it was sad, like someone still in mourning mentioning the name of their dead friend.

"It was a very dangerous thing making an attempt on the Gryffindor common room, not once but twice." Aileen informed him.

"I didn't mean to hurt the Fat Lady. But I got frustrated. She should have just let me in." Black replied his eyes flickering with his emotions.

"How did you get past Sir Cadogan?" Aileen demanded.

"A kid wrote down all the passwords." He replied, drawing a sheet of parchment from his pocket.

"Why are you here?" Aileen asked, her wand hadn't lowered from its raised position which was something Black finally took notice of since his eyes kept flickering too it.

"It end what I started twelve years ago." Black snarled viciously, his eyes darkening in fury.

Aileen's eyes narrowed. "It is the belief of the ministry that you are here to kill me." Aileen said calmly, not showing her own emotions on the subject.

"Belief of the ministry…you don't…" but whatever he was going to say next was cut off by the sound of someone's footsteps on the staircase. He turned and ran from the common room and Aileen let him. She lowered her wand and took a deep breath – well that was interesting.

"What are you still doing up?" Ron's voice asked from behind her.

"Reading." Aileen answered.

"I heard you talking to someone…" Rom muttered as Aileen finally turned around.

"Crookshanks," Aileen motioned to the cat that was sat curled contently around a pillow a couple of feet away from her.

"Oh, right…" Rom muttered before turning round and heading back to bed.

Once she was sure he had left Aileen headed up the boy's staircase as well. She entered Percy's pristine room and shook him awake.

"Hu…wh'ts the matter?" Percy grumbled sleepily.

"I need you to escort me to see Professor McGonagall." Aileen answered.

"At three in the morning?" Percy questioned sitting up and grabbing his night gowned.

"Sirius Black was in the common room." Aileen replied with. Percy was awake immediately and looked at her with shocked eyes.

"Are you sure?" he demanded.

"Yes, now come on. The longer it takes to inform a teacher the greater the chance that he has of getting away."

 **Throughout the** next **day, everywhere** the students **went they saw signs of tighter security** (despite the fact that they didn't know why because Aileen and Percy had been asked not to reveal what happened) **; Professor Flitwick could be seen teaching the front doors** **to recognize a large picture of Sirius Black; Filch was suddenly bustling up and down the corridors, boarding up everything from tiny cracks in the walls to mouse holes. Sir Cadogan had been fired. His portrait had been taken back to its lonely landing on the seventh floor, and the Fat Lady was back. She had been expertly restored, but was still extremely nervous, and had agreed to return to her job only on condition that she was given extra protection. A bunch of surly security trolls had been hired to guard her. They paced the corridor in a menacing group, talking in grunts and comparing the size of their clubs.**

 **Professor McGonagall was furious with** Neville who had written down the passwords so that he could get into the tower. **She had banned him from all future Hogsmeade visits, given him a detention, and forbidden anyone to give him the** **password** **into the tower.** Aileen refused to leave him **outside the common room every night, waiting for somebody to let him in, while the security trolls leered unpleasantly at him,** so she would tell him the password or make sure to walk with him back to the common room **. None of these punishments, however, came** **close** **to matching the one his grandmother had in store for him. Two days after Black's break-in, she sent Neville the very worst thing a Hogwarts student could receive over breakfast - a Howler.**

 **The school owls swooped into the Great Hall carrying the mail as usual, and Neville choked as a huge barn owl landed in front of him, a scarlet envelope clutched in its beak.** Aileen **and Ron, who were sitting opposite him, recognized the letter as a Howler at once - Ron had got one from his mother the year before.**

 **"Run for it, Neville," Ron advised.**

"Or…" Aileen trailed of as she fired first a silencing bubble around the howler followed swiftly by an incendio. The letter caught fire and when it had burnt to ashes she poured water over it to put the fire out before banishing the ashes.

"Thanks," Neville breathed a sigh of relief.

"It's alright, Howlers are nasty things. Researched how to destroy one after Ron got one last year." Aileen replied as she gently untied the letter Hedwig was carrying and fed her some bacon in thanks. She didn't get a lot of mail during the school year (or summer for that matter). Aileen opened the letter to discover it was an invitation for tea from Hagrid for that night around six and he added the specific statement at the end of:

 **WAIT FOR ME IN THE ENTRANCE HALL; YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED OUT ON YOUR OWN.**

 **So at six o'clock that afternoon,** Aileen **and Ron** (Aileen had spoken with Hermione and tried to get her to come with them but she had some Muggle Studies homework too complete) **left Gryffindor Tower, passed the security trolls and headed down to the entrance hall.**

 **Hagrid was already waiting for them.**

 **"All right, Hagrid!" said Ron. "S'pose you want to hear about Saturday night, do you?"**

 **"I've already heard all abou' it," said Hagrid, opening the front doors and leading them outside.**

 **The first thing they saw on entering Hagrid's cabin was Buckbeak, who was stretched out on top of Hagrid's** **patchwork quilt, his enormous wings folded tight to his body, enjoying a large plate of dead ferrets.** Curled up not too far away from Buckbeak was So̱ti̱ría who barked happily when he saw Aileen in Hagrid's cabin. Aileen rolled her eyes and went over to him. She sat between the hippogriff and So̱ti̱ría and began to run her hand along So̱ti̱ría back, gently undoing all the knots, causing him to flop to the floor continued her observation of the room and spotted **a gigantic, hairy brown suit and a very horrible yellow-and-orange tie hanging from the top of Hagrid's** **wardrobe door.**

 **"What are they for, Hagrid?" said** Aileen **.**

 **"Buckbeak's case against the Committee fer the Disposal o' Dangerous Creatures," said Hagrid. "This Friday. Him an' me'll be goin' down ter London together. I've booked two beds on the Knight Bus..."**

"Me and Hermione haven't complied all the information yet." Aileen said, her eyes wide in worry.

 **Hagrid poured them tea and offered them a plate of buns but they knew better than to accept; they had had too much experience with Hagrid's cooking.**

 **"I got somethin' ter discuss with you two," said Hagrid, sitting himself between them and looking uncharacteristically serious.**

 **"What?"** Aileen asked, frowning in worry **.**

 **"Hermione," said Hagrid.**

Aileen nodded in understanding. Despite her best efforts Hermione had started to become sleep deprived and her body wasn't getting enough nutrients. Aileen didn't know how much time Hermione was squeezing into one day so she couldn't accurately determine the amount of sleep and food she needs – only guess. With Aileen's interference Hermione was getting a solid nine hours each night and three large meals a day. Then there was the snakes Aileen would make Hermione eat at the end of every lesson and every hour or so, in the common room. The only time Aileen didn't make Hermione eat snakes was one she spent time in the library, in which case Aileen would only allow her two hours in their before getting her to sign out books and dragging her to the common room.

 **"What about her?"** Ron asked obviously.

 **"She's in a righ' state, that's what. She's bin comin' down ter visit me a lot since Chris'mas. Bin feelin' lonely. Firs' yeh weren' talking to her because o' the Firebolt, now yer not talkin' to her because her cat -"**

 **"…ate Scabbers!" Ron interjected angrily.**

Aileen just sat silently, she had known Hermione was disappearing to Hagrid's but she assumed it was because she was discussing the trial with him. She normally went down when Aileen had Quidditch practise and they would walk back to the castle together.

 **"Because her cat acted like all cats do," Hagrid continued doggedly. "She's cried a fair few times, yeh know. Goin' through a rough time at the moment. Bitten off more'n she can chew, if yeh ask me, all the work she's tryin' ter do. Still found time ter help me with Buckbeak's case, mind...She's found some really good stuff fer me...reckon he'll stand a good chance now..."**

"Wait, she finished the work without informing me? I told her that I would handle it." Aileen said shocked. "She is already doing too much."

 **"** It's not your fault." Hagrid waved away her concern, " **Gawd knows yeh've had enough ter be getting' on with. I've seen yeh practicin' Quidditch ev'ry hour o' the day an' night - but I gotta tell yeh, I thought you two'd value yer friend more'n broomsticks or rats. Tha's all."**

"And I do. I speak with Hermione as much as I possibly can. We sit in the common room together every night. And by the gods, I sit next to her in every lesson. I've watched as she became more tied, thinner and more stressed despite my continued attempts to lighten her load. To make her eat. To make her sleep. I have done everything I possibly could to help her and if I had known she was feeling lonely I would have dropped Quidditch practice. Because she is more important to me then the cup." Aileen replied tartly. She did not like being accused of not helping her friends – even if it was one of her friends telling her such.

"I know yeh try Aileen, but Ron… **She's got her heart in the right place, Hermione has, an' you not talkin' to her -"**

 **"If she'd just get rid of that cat, I'd speak to her again!" Ron said angrily. "But she's still sticking up for it! It's a maniac, and she won't hear a word against it!"**

 **"Ah, well, people can be a bit stupid abou' their pets," said Hagrid wisely. Behind him, Buckbeak spat a few ferret bones onto Hagrid's pillow.** Aileen reached over and gently stocked the Hippogriff's beak before it could go for another ferret.

When they returned to the common room a couple of hours later they saw a **large group of people bunched around the bulletin board.**

 **"Hogsmeade, next weekend!" said Ron, craning over the heads to read the new notice. "What d'you reckon?" he added quietly to** Aileen **as they went to sit down.** Aileen had told him (and Hermione, separately) about the map and the secret passage way to Hogsmeade.

 **"** Ron I'm not sure…" Aileen began hesitantly.

 **"** Aileen **!" said a voice in her right ear.** Aileen **started and looked around at Hermione, who was sitting at the table right behind them and clearing a space in the wall of books that had been hiding her.**

 **"** Aileen **, if you go into Hogsmeade...I'll tell Professor McGonagall about that map!" said Hermione.**

 **"Can you hear someone talking,** Aileen **?" growled Ron, not looking at Hermione.**

 **"Ron, how can you** encourage her to go with you **? After what Sirius Black nearly did to** her **! I mean it, I'll tell-"**

 **"So now you're trying to get** Aileen **expelled!" said Ron furiously. "Haven't you done enough damage this year?"**

 **Hermione opened her mouth to respond, but with a soft hiss, Crookshanks leapt onto her lap. Hermione took one frightened look at the expression on Ron's face, gathered up Crookshanks, and hurried away toward the girls' dormitories.**

"Ron, I'm not going to Hogsmeade." Aileen sighed before getting up and heading after Hermione, motioning for Lavender and Parvati to following in five minutes. She refused to let her be on her own after what Ron had just said and since Hermione had willing abbandoned her study that night, she was going to use the excuse to make Hermione relax and talk.

 **"** Aileen **! I forgot you weren't going to Hogsmeade either!"** Neville exclaimed when Aileen said goodbye to her friends in the entrance hall and began to head up to the Gryffindor Common room.

"Hi, Neville,"Aileen smiled at her friend. "What you doing?"

"Nothing," shrugged Neville. "Want a game of Exploding Snap?"

"How about a game of Muggle cards?" Aileen counter, having discovered she didn't really like Exploding Snape since it didn't have any verity like muggle cards (one deck holding tones of different types of games).

"Muggle Cards?"

"Yeah, I'll teach you a few games." Aileen promised.

"Alright." Neville agreed.

"Did you finish Professor Lupin's essay?" Aileen enquired curiously.

"No," Neville admitted sheepishly. **"I don't understand that thing about the garlic at all: do they have to eat it, or-"**

 **He broke off with a small gasp, looking** ahead of them.

 **It was Snape. Neville took a quick step behind** Aileen **.**

 **"And what are you two doing here?" said Snape, coming to a halt and looking from one to the other. "An odd place to meet -"** They had stopped on the third floor while they talked.

"We weren't meeting here, professor." Aileen answered. "We were simply discussing something and came to a stop here."

 **"Indeed?" said Snape. "You have a habit of turning up in unexpected places, Potter, and you are very rarely there for no good reason...I suggest the pair of you return to Gryffindor Tower, where you belong."**

"Of course, Professor." Aileen answered before leading Neville up the stairs.

Aileen and Neville spent the rest of the day together, first Aileen helped him finish his essay for professor Lupin but once that was out of the way they played some card games and even dragged Ginny and a couple of the other younger years into the game.

Once everyone had returned to the castle Aileen retreated to her room and opened the map, frowning at it thoughtfully. She knew it would be a very bad thing if someone else got their hands on it. And there was a name she kept seeing. A name that she knew shouldn't be on this map. With this in mind she grabbed it and headed down to Professor Lupin's office – the only person besides the headmaster that she trusted enough with the map.

"Aileen, what can I do for you?" Lupin asked quite surprised as he allowed Aileen to enter his office.

"This came into my possession." Aileen answered handing the map over. It had been whipped clean but she saw the look on the Professor's face. He knew what it was.

"I happen to know that this map was confiscated by Mr. Filch many years ago **."** Lupin said after a moment of silently observing the paper and Aileen.

"Yes, it was removed from his office a couple of years ago and then passed onto me. I realised that something like that hanging around the castle wouldn't be a good idea. Also a name keeps appearing. One that shouldn't be able to appear on that map." Aileen hesitated.

"What name?" Professor Lupin asked, looking at her seriously.

"Peter Pettigrew."

Word count: 20,449

Copied: 7,913

Edited: 11/09/2017


	22. Chapter 22: Revelations Edited

Okay, lets start with: I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER. I'm just happily playing in JK's sand box. I DON'T OWN PERCY JACKSON either. I'm only allowed to play on the swing sets (pouts).

So, the next thing on my list of things to put on the top of this story: I've used a lot of the book structure of the first four years. By this I mean Aileen will be face a troll, save a dragon, go down the third floor, be blamed for opening the chamber, reveal her parseltongue abilities in the dueling club, save Ginny and kill the basilisk, and confront Sirius at the end of third year. Aileen will also be entered into the goblet, however she will be complete the tasks completely differently to Harry. If you don't like stories that do this then this isn't the story for you. Although I divert most majorly from the story line after book four, there are points through the first four years were Aileen dose something that Harry would never do because that is the way I've portrayed my character.

And finally, I have heavily edited the first twenty four chapters. You need to re-read the entire story to understand what happens after that point because it all ties together. By heavily edited, I mean nearly 40% of my story has completely been re-written. There is better characterization, more realistic sword skills and a little bit more on the emotional explanation of my character.

* * *

Chapter 22: Year three: the Revelation(s)

When Aileen returned to the common room after handing the map over it was to find a heavily upset Hermione holding a letter in her hands. "Hagrid lost his case. Buckbeak is going to be executed." Hermione whispered sadly when Aileen got close enough to hear what she was saying.

Due to the safety measures imposed on the students, it was impossible to sneak down to talk with Hagrid. It seemed the security (especially around Aileen) was stricter this year than it had been during the Basilisk incident the year before. Because of this, the only time they could speak with Hagrid was during their Care lessons.

Unlike when Norbet had been taken from him and when the initial investigation began, Hagrid seemed unable to believe what was happening, and unable to express his emotions. He just seemed to being going through the motions without much thought or emotion.

Unfortunately, Malfoy tried pressing his luck on the way back to the castle. Ron had vowed to help with the appeal, trying to make up for his behaviour over the year, and so when Malfoy kept looking back at them and laughing derisively, Ron started going red in the face in his anger.

"Look at him blubber!" Malfoysaid condescendingly as Hagrid left for his hut, blowing his nose in his handkerchief. "Have you ever seen anything quite as pathetic? And he's supposed to be ourteacher!"

Ron made furious moves toward Malfoy,but Aileen grabbed him by the back of the neck too stop him. The last time he attacked Malfoy he ended up in detention. She didn't even think about stopping Hermione - SMACK!

She had slapped Malfoy across the face with all the strength she could muster. Malfoy staggered. Aileen, Ron, Crabbe, and Goyle stood flabbergasted as Hermione raised her hand again.

"Don't you dare call Hagrid pathetic, you foul, evillittle cockroach!"

"Hermione," Aileen said softly stepping forward and gently grabbing her friend's wrist. Hermione pulled out her wand with her other hand. Malfoy hurriedly stumbled backwarddespite the fact that Hermione was holding her wand in her off hand. Crabbe and Goyle looked at him for instructions, thoroughly bewildered.

"C'mon." Malfoy muttered, and in a moment, all three of them had disappeared into the passageway to the dungeons.

"Hermione!" Ron said, sounding both stunned and impressed.

"We are officially a bad influence on you." Aileen decided, leading her friend inside the castle so that she could have something to eat. Perhaps the stress was getting to her? Hopefully Malfoy will be to embarrassed by being beaten by a girl to say anything to any of the teachers since the new, strict policy on bullying would see Hermione in a weeks' worth of detention (which would be the second time Hermione had ever served a detention).

The two week Easter holidays were far from relaxing. In the lead up to their exams, the teachers had dumped a load of homework on all the students to the point where several appeared to want to collapse. The Seventh and Fifth years, however seemed to be under the most strain of homework – as the students got closer to the 'big' exams, they were given steadily bigger mounds of homework.

But nobody had as much to do as Hermione. Even without Divination (which she had dropped rather dramatically according to Ron), she was taking more subjects than anybody else (although she wasn't taking more exams, since Percy had applied for the muggle studies and history exam despite no longer attending the lessons). She was usually last to leave the common room at night (except for Aileen) and first to arrive at the library the next morning; she had shadows like Lupin's under her eyes, and seemed constantly close to tears.

Many times Aileen had no choice but to slip Hermione either a calming draught or a light sleep potion just to get her to rest. The only reason she got away with it was because Hermione was so focused on her work she would automatically eat or drink anything Aileen handed too her and she had yet to realise that Aileen was drugging her. before doing so on such a regular basis, Aileen had made sure to consult Madam Pomfrey who had also been concerned about Hermione's health and agreed with Aileen's cause of action unless Hermione show signs that she was truly going to burn out, in which case Aileen was to bring her to the hospital wing.

Ron had taken over responsibility for Buckbeak's appeal. When he wasn't doing his own work, he was poring over enormously thick volumes with names like _The Handbook of Hippogriff Psychology_ and _Fowl or Foul? A Study of Hippogriff Brutality_. He was so absorbed, he even forgot to be horrible to Crookshanks.

Aileen, meanwhile, had to fit in her homework around Quidditch practice every day, not to mention endless discussions of tactics with Wood, her training under the eye of Salazar, her book writing, her concern for her friend, her aid for Hagrid, her research into the past of Sirius Black and the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black, her research into Dementors, her lessons with Lupin that had now turned to other areas of defence, her tutoring of Neville who was slowly getting over his fear of Professor Snape and the detentions that Professor Snape gave her whenever he could simply because she was not giving him any reason to hate her, her research into the etiquette of the wizarding world and how an heiress to an Ancient and Noble House should conduct themselves and finally her mentoring/counselling of the younger years. Essentially the only reason she was not in the same state as Hermione was because she was an insomniac who only got two hours of sleep and could rejuvenate herself with the aid of water (even if she rarely got to the lake anymore) and she knew how to relax and take a break by focusing on something that wasn't mentally draining (such as her physical training).

The Gryffindor-Slytherin match would take place on the first Saturday after the Easter holidays. Slytherin was leading the tournament by exactly two hundred points (they had slaughtered both the Ravenclaws and the Hufflepuffs who had mostly new players who weren't prepared for the brutality of the Slytherin team). This meant (as Wood constantly reminded his team) that they needed to win the match by more than that amount to win the Cup. It also meant that the burden of winning fell largely on Aileen, because capturing the Snitch was worth one hundred and fifty points.

"So you must catch it only if we're more than fifty points up," Wood told Aileen constantly. "Only if we're more than fifty points up, Aileen, or we win the match but lose the Cup. You've got that, haven't you? You must catch the Snitch only if we're -"

"I KNOW, OLIVER!" Aileen finally yelled in frustration. The entire common room fell silent. Everyone had cooped themselves up to get through the last of their work. "For god's sake boy, would you please just leave me in piece. I have far too much going on for you to be continuously reminding me of something I already know."

Fred, seeing that Aileen's hand was twitching towards her wand as Oliver opened his mouth, quickly jumped and grabbed the over boy around his shoulder. George joining him and covering Woods mouth so he couldn't say anything.

"Don't worry…"

"Little Raven, We'll…"

"Keep him away…"

And with that the twins pulled Oliver up to the boy's dormitories despite the larger boys struggles.

Never, in anyone's memory, had a match approached in such a highly charged atmosphere. By the time the holidays were over, tension between the two teams and their Houses was at the breaking point. A number of small scuffles broke out in the corridors, culminating in a nasty incident in which a Gryffindor fourth year and a Slytherin sixth year ended up in the hospital wing with leeks sprouting out of their ears.

Aileen was having a particularly bad time of it. She couldn't walk to class without Slytherins sticking out their legs and trying to trip her up; Crabbe and Goyle kept popping up wherever she went, and slouching away looking disappointed when they saw her surrounded by people. Wood had given instructions that Aileen should be accompanied everywhere she went, in case the Slytherins tried to put her out of action (despite the fact that Ginny was flying as reserve seeker. Just encase the other team remembered this fact, Ginny was also walking around with a guard in place). The whole of Gryffindor House took up the challenge enthusiastically, so that it was impossible for Aileen to get to classes on time because she was surrounded by a vast, chattering crowd.

The teachers did what they could to clamp down on the violence between the houses, but they were simply reacting to incidents and they couldn't be everywhere at once and so incidents slipped through. Those that were caught were punished heavily, and two boys were even suspended after a particularly violent altercation.

All usual pursuits were abandoned in the Gryffindor common room the night before the match. Even Hermione had put down her books.

"I can't work, I can't concentrate," Aileen said, absently pouring them both a cup of tea (helpfully provided by the house elves) that she had laced with calming drought. They both needed it.

There was a great deal of noise. Fred and George were dealing with the pressure by being louder and more exuberant than ever. Oliver was crouched over a model of a Quidditch field in the corner, prodding little figures across it with his wand and muttering to himself. Angelina, Alicia, and Katie were laughing at Fred's and George's jokes. Aileen was sitting with Ron and Hermione (for once on the floor by the fire as opposed to on the window sill), removed from the centre of things.

"You're going to be fine," Hermione told her, starting to relax now that she had started sipping at the tea.

"You've got a Firebolt!" said Ron, trying to be encouraging. But Aileen new very well that it wasn't just about the broom, it was the flyer as well.

Aileen and the rest of the Gryffindor team entered the Great Hall the next day to enormous applause. The Slytherin table hissed loudly as they passed. Aileen noticed that Malfoy looked even paler than usual. It seemed the Slytherin house were putting a lot of pressure on him beating her to the Snitch. She had already shown him up once, and despite his decent skill on the broom it was glaringly obvious that she was in a different league to him – especially now that she was using a far superior broom.

Wood spent the whole of breakfast urging his team to eat, while touching nothing himself. Then he hurried them off to the field before anyone else had finished, so they could get an idea of the conditions. As they left the Great Hall, everyone applauded again.

"Okay - no wind to speak of - sun's a bit bright, that could impair your vision, watch out for it - ground's fairly hard, good, that'll give us a fast kick off -" Wood paced the field, staring around with the team behind him. Finally, they saw the front doors of the castle open in the distance and the rest of the school spilling onto the lawn.

"Locker rooms," said Wood tersely.

None of them spoke as they changed into their scarlet robes. Aileen noticed that everyone had their wands this time. Normally only she wore her wand during a Quidditch match. It appeared her near death in the last game had gotten to the rest of the team and they had taken her policy of being prepared for anything seriously. It would also explain why the twins has had been looking up cushioning and momentum spells.

In what seemed like no time at all, Wood was saying, "Okay, it's time, let's go -"

They walked out onto the field to a tidal wave of noise. Three quarters of the crowd was wearing scarlet rosettes, waving scarlet flags with the Gryffindor lion upon them, or brandishing banners with slogans like "GO GRYFFINDOR!" and "LIONS FOR THE CUP" Behind the Slytherin goal posts, however, two hundred people were wearing green; the silver serpent of Slytherin glittered on their flags, and Professor Snape sat in the very front row, wearing green like everyone else, and a very grim smile.

The moment Aileen took to the air, Malfoy was tailing her. It seemed his strategy for the game was to stay as close to her as he could get. Which was a fair enough play, when the opposing seeker was more skilled them you, tagging them could distract the opposing seeker and lead you over taking them in the chase for the Snitch when it was spotted.

"And it's Gryffindor in possession, Alicia Spinner of Gryffindor with the Quaffle, heading straight for the Slytherin goal posts, looking good, Alicia! Argh, no - Quaffle intercepted by Warrington, Warrington of Slytherin tearing UP the field - WHAM! - nice Bludger work there by Weasley, Warrington drops the Quaffle, it's caught by - Johnson, Gryffindor back in possession, come on, Angelina - nice swerve around Montague - duck, Angelina, that's a Bludger! SHE SCORES! TEN-ZERO TO GRYFFINDOR!"

Angelina punched the air as she soared around the end of the field; the sea of scarlet below was screaming its delight. Aileen suddenly dived down and Marcus Flint smashed into her, barely centimetres away from his intended target – Alicia. It seemed that the Slytherin team were intending on knocking out as many players as they could.

"That will do!" shrieked Madam Hooch, zooming forward before the Gryffindor's could retaliate. Aileen regained her balance and waved of the hovering twins since she had taken the hit in shut a way that she received no more than a couple of bruises. "Penalty shot to Gryffindor for an unprovoked attack on their Chaser, which was only prevented by the timely intervention of the Gryffindor Seeker!"

Madam Hooch blew her whistle and Alicia flew forward to take the penalty.

"Come on, Alicia!" yelled Lee into the silence that had descended on the crowd. "YES! SHE'S BEATEN THE KEEPER! TWENTY-ZERO TO GRYFFINDOR!"

As Aileen returned to her search for the snitch she noticed So̱ti̱ría was once again stood by Ginny. Barking happily. Aileen made sure that she caught every word said by Lee because it was essential that she hold Malfoy off the Snitch until Gryffindor was more than fifty points up –

The game was quickly becoming one of the most violent games that Aileen had ever participated in. Despite the Slytherins faster brooms, the Gryffindor team was like a well-oiled machine and they were putting the Quaffle threw the hoop more often than not. In an attempted to stop them, the Slytherin team were physically assaulting the Gryffindor (resulting in several penalties) and the twins had a battle on their hands to protect the chasers from the beaters.

Aileen felt a huge jolt of excitement. She had seen the Snitch - it was shimmering at the foot of one of the Gryffindor goal posts - but she mustn't catch it yet - and if Malfoy saw it –

Faking a look of sudden concentration, Aileen pulled her Firebolt around sharply and sped off toward the Slytherin end - it worked. Malfoy went taring after her, clearly thinking Aileen had seen the Snitch there...

WHOOSH.

One of the Bludgers came streaking past Aileen's right ear, hit by the gigantic Slytherin Beater, Derrick. Then again...

WHOOSH.

The second Bludger grazed Aileen's elbow. The other Beater, Bole, was closing in.

Aileen had a fleeting glimpse of Bole and Derrick zooming toward her, clubs raised - she turned the Firebolt upward at the last second, and Bole and Derrick collided with a sickening crunch. Aileen continued circling the pitch, keeping her one eye on the snitch and an eye on Malfoy.

"Ha haaa!" yelled Lee Jordan as the Slytherin Beaters lurched away from each other, clutching their heads. "Too bad, boys! You'll need to get up earlier than that to beat a Firebolt! And it's Gryffindor in possession again, as Johnson takes the Quaffle - Flint alongside her - poke him in the eye, Angelina! - it was a joke, Professor, it was a joke - oh no - Flint in possession, Flint flying toward the Gryffindor goal posts, come on now, Wood, save -!"

But Flint had scored; there was an eruption of cheers from the Slytherin end, and Lee swore so badly that Professor McGonagall tried to tug the magical megaphone away from him.

"Sorry, Professor, sorry! Won't happen again! So, Gryffindor in the lead, thirty points to ten, and Gryffindor in possession -"

Enraged that Gryffindor had taken such an early lead, the Slytherins were rapidly resorting to any means to take the Quaffle. Bole hit Alicia with his club and tried to say he'd thought she was a Bludger. George elbowed Bole in the face in retaliation. Madam Hooch awarded both teams penalties, and Wood pulled off another spectacular save, making the score forty-ten to Gryffindor.

Malfoy was still keeping close to Aileen as she soared over the match, occasionally diving down to aid her team mates.

Katie scored. Fifty-ten. George were swooping around her, club raised, in case any of the Slytherins were thinking of revenge. Bole and Derrick took advantage of George's absence to aim both Bludgers at Wood; Fred wasn't able to hit both at the same time, so one of them caught Wood in the stomach and he rolled over in the air, clutching his broom, completely winded.

Madam Hooch was beside herself –

"YOU DO NOT ATTACK THE KEEPER UNLESS THE QUAFFLE IS WITHIN THE SCORING AREA!" she shrieked at Bole and Derrick. "Gryffindor penalty!"

And Angelina scored. In the intervening time Aileen checked on Wood and ended up casting a couple of healing spells since he refused to land and let Madam Pomfrey heal him. Sixty-ten. Moments later, Fred pelted a Bludger at Warrington, knocking the Quaffle out of his hands; Alicia seized it and put it through the Slytherin goal - seventy-ten.

The Gryffindor crowd below was screaming itself hoarse - Gryffindor was sixty points in the lead, and if Aileen caught the Snitch now, the Cup was theirs. Aileen could almost feel hundreds of eyes following her as she soared around the field, high above the rest of the game, with Malfoy speeding along behind her.

Taking a deep breath Aileen dropped into a completely vertical dive. Accelerating to the broom's top speed while also allowing gravity to give her a little extra push. She was about a hundred feet in the air (just under the highest she would dare go) and the snitch had been hovering twenty feet below her.

Down she dived, on the tail of the snitch that had also turned towards the ground. It tried out weaving her but Aileen was fast, her light weight aiding her as she followed after it. Malfoy was behind her but didn't stand a chance against the speed of the firebolt. The snitch began to get higher again and Aileen followed, rolling around the Bludgers that were sent her way by the furious Slytherin team.

For five minutes she followed the snitch, not once taking her eyes of it, even when she flew within millimetres of the stands and the ground. Malfoy was still following but he was having serious trouble and just didn't have the speed and movability that Aileen did. Finally she took her left hand from the handle and snatched the snitch out of the air as she flew within inches of the ground.

With the Quidditch match over, people started focusing solely on their exams. Rather than lazing around outside, the majority of the school population was inside trying to beat the information into their brains and ignoring the promising summer breeze that drifted through open windows. After Aileen had talked with the twins, they were spotted working and studying for their O.W.L.s. They had a deal in place. If they could get Outstanding in transfiguration, charms and potions, Exceeds Expectations in Herbology and Defence and Acceptable in their other subjects she would become a silent partner in their business pending the completion of their business proposal (which they had been writing in their spare time since Christmas). Before she had approached them, the twins had been planning to only pass transfiguration, charms and potions (which was why they were the subject Aileen wanted them to get Os).

Percy was getting ready to take his N.E.W.T.s. As Percy hoped to enter the Ministry of Magic, he needed top grades – he was aiming for the same as his older brother, 12 N.E.W.T.s at Exceeds Expectations or above. He was becoming increasingly edgy, and gave very severe punishments to anybody who disturbed thequietof the common room in the evenings. In fact, the only person who seemed more anxious than Percy was Hermione.

Ron had finally given up asking her how she was managing to attend several classes at once, but he couldn't restrain himself when they saw the examscheduleshe had drawn up for herself. The first column read:

Monday

9 o'clock, Arithmancy andMuggle Studies

Lunch

1 o'clock, Charms andDivination (Hermione had still been put down for the exam even if she no longer attended the lesson because she had waited too long to drop the subject)

"Hermione?" Ron said cautiously, because she was liable to explode when interrupted these days. "Er - are you sure you've copied down these times right?"

"What?" snapped Hermione, picking up the exam schedule and examining it. "Yes, of course I have."

"Is there any point asking how you're going to sit for two exams at once?" said Aileen, she hadn't pushed the topic all year but if Hermione didn't drop at least one more subject at the end of term that she wouldn't be so restrained.

"No," said Hermione shortly. "Have either of you seen my copy of Numerology and Gramatica?"

"Oh, yeah, I borrowed it for a bit of bedtime reading," said Ron, but very quietly. Aileen glared at him out of the corner of her eye as she picked up her copy of Numerology and Gramatica to stop the other girl from panicking.

Aileen, Ron, and Hermione had plenty of opportunity to speak to Hagrid during their exam.

"Beaky's gettin' a bit depressed," Hagrid told them, bending low on the pretence of checking that Aileen'sJobberknoll nest was going well. "Bin cooped up too long. But still...we'll know day after tomorrow - one way or the other -"

They had Potions that afternoon. Because of Aileen's tutoring under Professor Salazar and her determination to become a healer Aileen's potions work had started to become instinctual. She had memories all the healing potions she would ever come across in school and the most common ones used in the hospital wing. Alongside these potions she had memories every potion taught at school as well as those that Professor Salazar had taught. Because of this she was able to get the Confusing Concoctionthat they were making for their practical portion of the exam, to thicken and change colour correctly despite the fact that Professor Snape spent almost the entire exam standing over her shoulder and sneering (something she was grateful for, since it meant he left Neville alone at the poor boy was able to complete a useable potion).

Then came Astronomy at midnight, up on the tallest tower; History of Magic on Wednesday morning which was then followed by Herbology. All but five students returned to the common room. Aileen, Hermione and the other three headed to their two and a half hour Arithmancy exam.

Their second to last exam, on Thursday morning, was Defence Against the Dark Arts. Professor Lupin had compiled the most unusual exam any of them had ever taken; a sort of obstacle course outside in the sun, where they had to wade across a deep paddling pool containing a Grindylow, cross a series of potholes full of Red Caps, squish their way across a patch of marsh while ignoring misleading directions from a Hinkypunk, then climb into an old trunk and battle with a new Boggart.

"Excellent, Aileen," Lupin muttered as Aileen climbed out of the trunk. "Full marks."

Aileen nodded gratefully at him before turning and watching her class mates complete the course (all of their morals boosted by how easily Aileen got to the end). Ron did very well until he reached the Hinkypunk, which successfullyconfusedhim into sinking waist-high into the quagmire. Hermione did everything perfectly until she reached the trunk with the Boggart in it. After about a minute inside it, she burst out again, screaming.

"Hermione!" said Lupin, startled. "What's the matter?"

"P-P-Professor McGonagall!" Hermione gasped, pointing into the trunk. "Sh-she said I'd failed everything!"

It took a little while to calm Hermione down. When at last she had regained a grip on herself, she, Aileen, and Ron went back to the castle. Ron was still slightly inclined to laugh at Hermione's Boggart, but an argument was averted by the sight that met them on the top of the steps.

Cornelius Fudge, sweating slightly in his pinstriped cloak, was standing there staring out at the grounds. He started at the sight of Aileen.

"Hello there, Aileen!" he said. "Just had an exam, I expect? Nearly finished?"

"Yes sir," said Aileen. Hermione and Ron, not being on speaking terms with the Minister of Magic, hovered awkwardly in the background.

"Lovely day," said Fudge, casting an eye over the lake. "Pity...pity..."

He sighed deeply and looked down at Aileen.

"I'm here on an unpleasant mission, Aileen. The Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures required a witness to the execution of a mad Hippogriff. As I needed to visit Hogwarts to check on the Black situation, I was asked to step in."

"Does that mean the appeal's already happened?" Ron interrupted, stepping forward.

"No, no, it's scheduled for this afternoon," said Fudge, looking curiously at Ron.

"Then you might not have to witness an execution at all!" said Ron stoutly. "The Hippogriff might get off!"

"Ron," Aileen said calmly placing a hand on his shoulder. "Minister, due to the fact I cannot leave my exams I would like to say something now. The Hippogriff in question was insulted, which Professor Hagrid specifically informed us not to do. As a proud creature the Hippogriff attacked Mr Malfoy. However I intervened and took the hit instead, allowing time for Professor Hagrid to pull the enraged Hippogriff back and calm it down. The minor injury that Mr Malfoy sustained was caused due to a knife that he had been currying on his arm without the proper safety measures. Mr Malfoy does not have the right to condemn that Hippogriff; if anyone does it is me. I have spent many nights sat by the Hippogriff's side and he has been perfectly docile." Aileen then pulled out a letter she had written to the headmaster stating exactly the same thing. "I would appreciate it if you could give this to Headmaster Dumbledore so that it may be read during the Hippogriff's appeal." Aileen held it forward.

"Of course, of course." The minister muttered taking the letter just as two wizards came through the castle doors behind him. One was so ancient he appeared to be withering before their very eyes; the other was tall and strapping, with a thin back mustache. Aileen gathered that they were representatives of the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures, because the very old wizard squinted toward Hagrid's cabin and said in a feeble voice, "Dear, dear, I'm getting too old for this...Two o'clock, isn't it, Fudge?"

The black-mustached man was fingering something in his belt; Aileen looked and saw that he was running one broad thumb along the blade of a shining axe. Ron opened his mouth to say something, but Hermione nudged him hard in the ribs and jerked her head toward the entrance hall.

"Why'd you stop me?" said Ron angrily as they entered the Great Hall for lunch. "Did you see them? They've even got the axe ready! This isn't justice!"

"Ron, your dad works for the Ministry, you can't go saying things like that to his boss! Aileen was lucky that the minister didn't do anything about her disrespect." said Hermione, but she too looked very upset. "As long as Hagrid keeps his head this time, and argues his case properly, they can't possibly execute Buckbeak..."

But Aileen could tell Hermione didn't really believe what she was saying. All around them, people were talking excitedly as they ate their lunch, happily anticipating the end of the exams that afternoon, but Aileen, Ron, and Hermione, lost in worry about Hagrid and Buckbeak, didn't join in.

Aileen'sand Hermione's last exam was Ancient Runes; Ron's last exam was Divination. They walked up the marble staircase together; Hermione and Aileen left Ron on the first floor while Ron proceeded all the way up to the seventh.

The Ancient Rune's exam was split into two parts. The first consisted of an exam paper that should take them about an hour to complete. The second could take up to three hours although most students only took one hour because they had the opportunity to plan their second part before the exam. They had to draw a runic array and then explain, in detail, what it was supposed to do. They got marks for originality and whether or not it worked.

Hermione and Aileen stayed the longest too complete the second part of the exam but Hermione was finished in an hour and forty five minutes. Aileen however continued working for another forty minutes. She had designed a very complicated runic array. It was hexagonal (Professor Babbling had only focused on triangle runic arrays but Aileen had read ahead and had been doing seventh year work for a couple of months) and had sixty individual points with a combination of twelve different runes.

The runic array was designed to activate based on intensions and had three different levels. If you meant no harm to the thing in the runic array then you would be able to pass through. If you wished to harm or steal the item you would be given a light shock. If your intentions where to irreparably destroy the item then you would be frozen in place for two hours. The originality of her array came from the conversion of energy part. Normally such wards took a lot of energy to charge and maintain, but her's was a low powered ward which would remain effective with minimal drain.

When she had finished Aileen handed in her work and left the classroom, heading back to the Gryffindor Common room. However she was stopped suddenly in her tracks by a harsh voice:

"IT WILL HAPPEN TONIGHT."

Aileenwheeled aroundher wand draw and aimed directly at the person's chest. It was Professor Trelawney who stood rigidly behind her; her eyes rolled and she seemed about to have a seizure.

"THE DARK LORD LIES ALONE AND FRIENDLESS, ABANDONED BY HIS FOLLOWERS. HIS SERVANT HAS BEEN CHAINED THESE TWELVE YEARS. TONIGHT, BEFORE MIDNIGHT...THE SERVANT WILL BREAK FREE AND SET OUT TO REJOIN HIS MASTER. THE DARK LORD WILL RISE AGAIN WITH HIS SERVANT'S AID, GREATER AND MORE TERRIBLE THAN EVER HE WAS. TONIGHT...BEFORE MIDNIGHT...THE SERVANT...WILL SET OUT...TO REJOIN...HIS MASTER..."

Professor Trelawney began to full but Aileen caught her before she could. She appeared to be barely conscious so Aileen pointed her wand at her and cast the spell that allowed her to levitate the professor as though she was on a board.

Aileen had just got to the end of the corridor when Trelawney came too.

"Where am I?" she said airily turning her head.

"You collapsed professor, I think the heat of the day may have gotten to you." Aileen said easily as she continued levitating the professor towards the hospital wing.

"Oh, dear." Professor Trelawney said softly making no protest about the fact that Aileen was floating her through the corridors.

The moment Aileen had left Trelawney in Madam Pomfrey's care (Aileen didn't have the time to stay and help) she headed to the Gryffindor Common room at a fast walk. What the hell was that? Had the professor actually made a prediction?

Aileen stepped in to the common room and at once new that something was wrong. She stepped closer to her friends who were sat mournfully by the fire.

"Buckbeak lost," said Ron weakly. "Hagrid's just sent this."

Hagrid's note was dry this time, no tears had splattered it, yet his hand seemed to have shaken so much as he wrote that it was hardly legible.

Lost appeal.

They're going to execute at sunset.

Nothing you can do.

Don't come down. I don't want you to see it.

Hagrid

"We've got to go," said Aileen at once. "He can't just sit there on his own, waiting for the executioner!"

"Sunset, though," said Ron, who was staring out the window in a glazed sort of way. "We'd never be allowed ...'specially you, Aileen..."

"Then we'll use the invisibility cloak, I am not letting Hagrid wait on his own." Aileen said sharply.

They joined everyone else at dinner, but didn't return to Gryffindor Tower afterward. Aileen had the cloak hiddenin one of her robe pockets; Hermione had finally stopped asking where she kept drawing these things from and accepted that she kept some weird shit in her pockets that couldn't have possibly fit. They waited in an empty chamber off the entrance hall, listening, until they were sure it was deserted. They heard a last pair of people hurrying across the hall and a door slamming. Hermione poked her head around the door.

"Okay," Hermione whispered, "no one there - cloak on -"

Since Ron and Hermione had both grown quite a bit since first year, they had to walk very close together to ensure that every part of them was hidden by the cloak. Aileen's growth spurt was nothing in comparison to her friends. Aileen cast a silencing charm on their feet so that they could walk normally, without alerting someone to their presence. As they began the decent to the edge of the grounds, the sun had already begun to sink behind the Forbidden Forest.

Apollo's chariot, was retiring for the night, and soon Artemis' chariot would light the sky, Aileen thought absently.

They reached Hagrid's cabin and knocked. He was a minute in answering, and when he did, he looked all around for his visitor, pale-faced and trembling.

"It's us," Aileen whispered to her wary friend. "We're wearing the Invisibility Cloak. Let us in and we can take it off."

"Yeh shouldn've come!" Hagrid whispered, but he stood back, and they stepped inside. Hagrid shut the door quickly and Aileen pulled off the cloak.

Hagrid was not crying, nor did he throw himself upon their necks. He looked like a man who did not know where he was or what to do. This helplessness was worse to watch than tears.

"Wan' some tea?" he said. His great hands were shaking as he reached for the kettle. Aileen stepped forward and took the kettle from him before he could injure himself. Neither So̱ti̱ría nor Buckbeak were in the hut, Aileen noticed as she looked around the familiar room.

"Where's Buckbeak, Hagrid?" Hermione hesitantly inquired when she also noticed the absence of animals.

"I - I took him outside," said Hagrid, flopping back down into a chair now that Aileen had taken the task of making tea from him. "He's tethered in me pumpkin patch. Thought he oughta see the trees an' - an' smell fresh air - before -"

"Isn't there anything anyone can do, Hagrid?" Aileen asked as Hermione went rummaging in the cupboards for milk. "Dumbledore -"

"He's tried," said Hagrid. "He's got no power ter overrule the Committee. He told 'em Buckbeak's all right, but they're scared...Yeh know what Lucius Malfoy's like...threatened 'em, I expect...an' the executioner, Macnair, he's an old pal o' Malfoy's...but it'll be quick an' clean...an' I'll be beside him..." Hagrid swallowed. His eyes were darting all over the cabin as though looking for some shred of hope or comfort. "Dumbledore's gonna come down while it - while it happens. Wrote me this mornin'. Said he wants ter - ter be with me. Great man, Dumbledore..."

Hermione let out a small, quickly stifled sob. She straightened up with the jug in her hands, fighting back tears.

"We'll stay with you too, Hagrid," she began, but Hagrid shook his shaggy head.

"Yeh're ter go back up ter the castle. I told yeh, I don' wan' yeh watchin'. An' yeh shouldn' be down here anyway...If Fudge an' Dumbledore catch yeh out without permission, Aileen, yeh'll be in big trouble."

Silent tears were now streaming down Hermione's face, but she hid them from Hagrid, bustling around making tea (having taken the task from Aileen who had moved over to comfort Hagrid). Then, as she picked up the milk bottle to pour some into the jug, she let out a shriek.

"Ron, I don't believe it - it's Scabbers!"

Ron gaped at her. "What are you talking about?"

Hermione carried the milk jug over to the table and turned it upside down. With a frantic squeak, and much scrambling to get back inside, Scabbers the rat came sliding out onto the table.

"Scabbers!" said Ron blankly. "Scabbers, what are you doing here?"

He grabbed the struggling rat and held him up to the light. Scabbers looked dreadful. He was thinner than ever, large tufts of hair had fallen out leaving wide bald patches, and he writhed in Ron's hands as though desperate to free himself

"It's okay, Scabbers!" said Ron. "No cats! There's nothing here to hurt you!"

Hagrid suddenly stood up, his eyes fixed on the window. His normally ruddy face had gone the color of parchment.

"They're comin'..."

Aileen, Ron, and Hermione whipped around. A group of men was walking down the distant castle steps. In front was Albus Dumbledore, his silver beard gleaming in the dying sun. Next to him trotted Cornelius Fudge. Behind them came the feeble old Committee member and the executioner, Macnair.

"Yeh gotta go," said Hagrid. Every inch of him was trembling. "They mustn' find yeh here...Go now..."

Ron stuffed Scabbers into his pocket and Hermione picked up the cloak. "I'll let yeh out the back way," said Hagrid.

They followed him to the door into his back garden. Aileen felt strangely unreal, and even more so when she saw Buckbeak a few yards away, tethered to a tree behind Hagrid's pumpkin patch. Buckbeak seemed to know something was happening. He turned his sharp head from side to side and pawed the ground nervously.

"It's okay, Beaky," said Hagrid softly. "It's okay..." He turned to Aileen, Ron, and Hermione. "Go on," he said. "Get goin'."

"We'll find away, Buckbeak won't die this night." Aileen promised her eyes glowing fiercely as Hermione threw the cloak over them, they heard voices at the front of the cabin. Hagrid looked at the place where they had just vanished from sight.

"Go quick," he said hoarsely. "Don' listen..."

And he strode back into his cabin as someone knocked at the front door.

Slowly, in a kind of horrified trance, Aileen, Ron, and Hermione set off silently around Hagrid's house. As they reached the other side, the front door closed with a sharp snap.

"Please, let's hurry," Hermione whispered. "I can't stand it, I can't bear it..."

They started up the sloping lawn toward the castle. The sun was sinking fast now; the sky had turned to a clear, purple-tinged gray, but to the west there was a ruby-red glow.

Ron stopped dead.

"Oh, please, Ron," Hermione began.

"It's Scabbers - he won't - stay put -"

Ron was bent over, trying to keep Scabbers in his pocket, but the rat was going berserk; squeaking madly, twisting and flailing, trying to sink his teeth into Ron's hand.

"Scabbers, it's me, you idiot, it's Ron," Ron hissed.

They heard a door open behind them and men's voices.

"Oh, Ron, please let's move, they're going to do it!" Hermione breathed.

"Okay - Scabbers, stay put -"

They walked forward; Aileen, like Hermione, was trying not to listen to the rumble of voices behind them. She had killed hundreds of mindless beasts and monsters in her time, but Buckbeak was neither beast nor monster. He was an intelligent creature, and her heart hurt with what the ministry was going to do.

Ron stopped again.

"I can't hold him - Scabbers, shut up, everyone'll hear us -"

The rat was squealing wildly, but not loudly enough to cover up the sounds drifting from Hagrid's garden. There was a jumble of indistinct male voices, a silence, and then, without warning, the unmistakable swish and thud of an axe.

Hermione swayed on the spot. Aileen was forced to wrap her arm around Hermione's waist to stop her from falling to the floor.

"They did it!" she whispered to Aileen, disbelief and horror clear in her voice. "I'd - don't believe it - they did it!"

The three of them stood transfixed with horror under the Invisibility Cloak. The very last rays of the setting sun were casting a bloody light over the long-shadowed grounds. Then, behind them, they heard a wild howling. Aileen took a deep breath, she knew that they couldn't turn back and comfort their friend so instead she gently started pulling Hermione along by the waist. A paper-white Ron automatically following along beside her.

Hermione's breathing was shallow and uneven. "How - could - they?" she choked. "How could they?"

They set off back toward the castle, walking slowly to keep themselves hidden under the cloak. The light was fading fast now. By the time they reached open ground, darkness was settling like a spell around them.

"Scabbers, keep still," Ron hissed, clamping his hand over his chest. The rat was still wriggling madly. Aileen had never seen the animal act like this before – not even when it was trying to get away from Crookshanks. Scabbers was normally very lazy and docile, doing what Ron said and allowing him to manhandle him into a pocket. Once again Ron was forced to a hold as he tried to keep Scabbers in his pocket. "What's the matter with you; you stupid rat? Stay still - OUCH! He bit me!"

"Ron, be quiet!" Hermione whispered urgently. "Fudge'll be out here in a minute -"

"He won't - stay - put -"

Scabbers was plainly terrified. He was writhing with all his might, trying to break free of Ron's grip.

"What's the matter with him?" Ron asked, frowning as he tried to keep control of his pet.

But Aileen knew what was wrong. It seemed as though Scabbers had smelt a predatory hunting, because slinking across the grounds – keeping close to the ground to help stay out of sight – was Crookshanks. His yellow eyes were rather eerily fixed on Scabbers despite the invisibility cloak. Despite the cat's impressive sense of smell and hearing, it shouldn't have been able to locate Scabbers so accurately.

"Crookshanks!" Hermione moaned. "No, go away, Crookshanks! Go away!"

But the cat was getting nearer –

"Scabbers - NO!"

Too late - the rat had slipped between Ron's clutching fingers, hit the ground, and scampered away. In one bound, Crookshanks sprang after him, and before Aileen or Hermione could stop him, Ron had thrown the Invisibility Cloak off himself and pelted away into the darkness.

"Ron!" Hermione moaned.

Since it was impossible to run probably under the cloak, Aileen pulled it off as they took off after their friend and his rat. Not wanting to lose the cloak and figuring it would come in handy later, she slipped back into her pockets were she kept everything she thought she might need. As they hurtled after their friend, they heard him shouting at Scabbers and Crookshanks, unconcerned for the attention he may be bringing to them despite the fact that they were now out after curfew.

A load thud announced that Ron had thrown himself to the ground. "Gotcha! Get off, you stinking cat -"

Aileen and Hermione almost fell over Ron; they skidded to a stop right in front of him. He was sprawled on the ground, but Scabbers was back in his pocket; he had both hands held tight over the quivering lump.

"Ron - come on back under the cloak -" Hermione panted. "Dumbledore - the Minister - they'll be coming back out in a minute -"

"They probably heard your shouting." Aileen added, trying to get some speed in her friend's movements.

However, before they could get out of sight, Aileen looked sharply to the left were she could hear the sound of large paws hitting soft earth. A black shape was bounding towards the group from the shadows that the night was casting across the grounds.

"So̱ti̱ría" Aileen exclaimed in shock as he made an enormous leap. The houndmissed his target and hisfront paws hit her on the chest, sending her flying backwards under his weight. She felt So̱ti̱ría hot breath against her face for barely a second before he used her body as a spring board to launch himself back towards Ron.

Aileen rolled to her feet and drew her wand in time to see So̱ti̱ría clamp his jaws around Ron's arm. So̱ti̱ría was unnaturally carefully with Ron's arm in that Aileen couldn't see his teeth piercing skin not had Ron cried out in pain. Instead, Ron shouted in shocked horror as the large hound began dragging Ron across the ground as though he weighed nothing.

Aileen had attempted to pursue them but was forced to duck as something came swinging at her. She heard Hermione shriek with pain and fall.

"Hermione!" Aileen called as she continued ducking, rolling and jumping the branches. She had gotten to close to the Whomping Willow but So̱ti̱ría had dragged Ron to the base and she refused to leave him to his fate. So̱ti̱ría was here because she had vouched for him. It was her fault if Ron was hurt. Ron was fighting furiously, but his head and torso were slipping out of sight –

"Ron!"Aileen called, still stuck dancing at the edges of the tree. She saw Hermione get to her feet just outside of the tree's reach but she was not as quick as Aileen and so did not dare getting closer.

All they could see now was one of Ron's legs, which he had hooked around a root in an effort to stop So̱ti̱ría from pulling him farther underground - but a horrible crack cut the air like a gunshot; Ron's leg hadbroken, and a moment later, his foot vanished from sight.

"Aileen - we've got to go for help -" Hermione gasped; she was bleeding too; the Willow had cut her across theshoulder. Aileen swore and rolled out of the reach of the branches. Coming to a stop at Hermione's side where she immediately cast a cleaning and healing spell at her shoulder. She didn't need Hermione getting an infection on top of everything else that had gone wrong that year.

"We don't have time," Aileen disagreed with Hermione's request. She returned to facing the Willow once more. Trying to find a gab in its defence.

"Aileen - we're never going to get through without help -"

Another branch whipped down at them, twigs clenched like knuckles.

Crookshanks darted forward. He slithered between the battering branches like a snake and placed his front paws upon a knot on the trunk. Abruptly, as though the tree had been turned to marble, it stoppedmoving. Not a leaf twitched or shook.

"Crookshanks!" Hermione whispered uncertainly. She now grasped Aileen's arm painfully hard. "How did he know…?"

"He's friends withSo̱ti̱ría," Aileen answered tightly. She was the one who convinced Dumbledore to allow So̱ti̱ría to be let onto Hogwarts grounds and she didn't know why he had suddenly attacked Ron – or rather the rat that Ron carried since So̱ti̱ría had completely ignored her and Hermione. Even when she was visiting him out on the grounds, he had never attempted to attack Ron, but this was the first time the dog had been around the rat. And Crookshanks had tried attacking that rat right from the beginning, and it was well documented that Kneazles were highly intelligent. Maybe it wasn't so much that there was something wrong with So̱ti̱ría, as there was something wrong with the rat and they were simple reacting to that. "Come on, keep your wand out -"

Cautiously, Aileen led the way to the trunk and found the gap next to the knot that Crookshanks had pressed. Fearlessly, Crookshanks slipped into the gap. After a quick look at Hermione to make sure she was okay, Aileen followed after him, slipping down the gap feet first so that she landed in a crouch – her wand raised and prepared. However, the gap led to a low tunnel and only Crookshanks was in sight once Aileen lit her wand. When Aileen didn't make any sounds of distress, Hermione slipped down next to her.

"Where's Ron?" she whispered in a terrified voice when she realised that the tunnel was empty.

"This way," said Aileen answered softly, following after Crookshanks, she could see the drag marks in the dirt, but Crookshanks seemed to know where he was going so she decided to place her trust in the feline for now.

"Where does this tunnel come out?" Hermione asked breathlessly from behind her.

"I don't know...It's marked on the Marauder'sMapbut Fred and George said no one's ever gotten into it...It goes off the edge of the map, but it looked like it was heading for Hogsmeade..."

They moved as fast as they could,Aileen having to slow down for Hermione who wasn't used to moving around such a cramp space with so little light; ahead of them, Crookshanks's tail bobbed in and out of view. On and on went the passage; they must have been moving for at least thirty minutes and Aileen began to worry about the state of Ron's leg. So̱ti̱ría's teeth hadn't pierced her friend's arm but she hadn't been able to get a look at his leg before he was pulled out of sight so she didn't know how bad the break was.

Eventually, the tunnel began to rise slightly, and then there was an unexpected twist which Crookshanks disappeared around. When they came around the bend, Aileen saw a dim light shimming through the opening, which allowed her to put out her wand. She didn't want to alert anyone to her presences and she wanted to be able to cast spells immediately if she felt threatened.

She and Hermione pausedbefore the opening,before slowlyedging was walking in her half duelling stance, placing her body between Hermione and the room, as they moved forward. She didn't even think about the way she had positioned herself as they left the tunnel, it was instinctive for her to protect her friend.

There was a room at the end of the passage. It was dusty, like it wasn't been used in years. The wallpaper was peeling from the wall after years of neglect, and Aileen's eyes picked up stains on both the floor and the walls which mostly appeared to be blood. Aileen decided to keep this observation to herself since Hermione didn't need more to worry about. The furniture – what little of it that remained – was broken and scratched and the windows had been boarded up to prevent any light getting in the room however some of the wood had rotten and the dim light was coming through gaps in the wood.

As Aileen cautiously moved more fully into the room, Hermione tightly gripped her left arm.

"Aileen," she whispered, "I think we're in the Shrieking Shack."

Aileen looked around. Her eyes fell on a wooden chair near them. Large chunks had been torn out of it; one of the legs had been ripped off entirely. This was not the work of ghosts. The claw marks reminded Aileen of a wolf but they were too big…

At that moment, there was a creak overhead. Something had moved upstairs. Both of them looked up at the ceiling. Hermione's grip on Aileen's arm was so tight she was losing feeling in her fingers but she didn't make Hermione let go. She needed the comfort of physical contact right now and Aileen was still free to cast with her other arm.

Quietly as they could, they crept out into the hall and up the crumbling staircase, Aileen in the lead. Everything was covered in a thick layer of dust except the floor, where a wide shiny stripe had been made by something being dragged upstairs. Lucky Aileen couldn't see any fresh blood which told her at Ron's leg probably had only a clean break.

They reached the dark landing. There was only one door that was open.

As they crept toward it, they heard movement from behind it; a low moan, and then a deep, loud purring. They exchanged a last look, a last nod.

Wand held tightly before her, Aileen kicked the door wide open.

On a magnificent four-poster bed with dusty hangings lay Crookshanks, purring loudly at the sight of them. On the floor beside him, clutching his leg, which stuck out at a strange angle, was Ron.

Hermione dashed across to him. Aileen followed slightly more cautiously, taking in the rest of the room but she too came to kneel by Ron's side.

Aileen quickly cast a diagnostic charm. As she had suspected, Ron had a clean break of the Fibia. Knowing she didn't have much time Aileen numbed his leg before casting a spell to snap the bone back in place. Then she cast another to bandage the leg.

"Where'sSo̱ti̱ría?" Aileen asked once she had done what she could for the moment. She didn't have Skele-Grow in the medical pack she was currently carrying (something she was going to remedy as soon as she should) and she didn't want to risk giving Ron a pain potion since it ran the high chance of knocking him out.

"Not a dog," Ron moaned, still rather white from the pain he had been in. "Aileen, it's a trap -"

Aileen didn't need to hear the rest of what he was going to say. She span round and pointed her wand directly at the man who stood in the shadows as he closed the door behind them.

"Did you have to drag him in here quite so violently?" Aileen asked in a forced calm, as rose from her crouched position. Her wand didn't falter, not even when she noticed that Black had commandeered Ron's wand to replace his knife.

"I thought you'd come and help your friend," he said after a moment. "Your father would have done the same for me. Brave of you not to run for a teacher... although I did not mean to harm him."

"The last time I spoke with you… you said you were here to finish business." Aileen spoke softly.

"Yes… something I started twelve years ago. It should have never lasted this long." Black whispered his eyes going slightly distant and Aileen noticed that his hand shook in anger or perhaps he was still suffering the after effects of Dementor exposure.

"If you want to kill Aileen, you'll have to kill us too!" Ron said fiercely, though the effort of standing upright was draining him of still more colour, Aileen's numbing charm wearing of quickly due to the adrenaline that was currently going through his system.

Something flickered in Black's shadowed eyes. "Lie down," he said quietly to Ron. "You will damage that leg even more."

"He's right Ron; I've set the leg but not healed it." Aileen said gently.

"Did you hear me?" Ron said weakly, even as Aileen grabbed his arms and started to lower him back to the ground, motioning with her eyes for Hermione to join him. Hermione hesitated but knelt at Ron's side, obviously trusting her judgement although she kept a tight grip on her wand. "You'll have to kill all three of us!"

"There'll be only one murder here tonight," said Black, and his grin widened.

"Whose?" Aileen demanded.

"What…" Black suddenly blinked his eyes focusing intently on Aileen who once more stood calmly in front her friends.

"You've had hundreds of opportunities to kill me. But you haven't. You didn't come to Hogwarts to kill me." Aileen said.

"No, I came to protect you…" Black trailed of, obviously his time out of Azkaban hadn't been enough to completely repair the damage done to his mind. Especially since he had spent the majority of the last year as a dog.

"But you killed her parents." Ron said completely bewildered from behind her.

"I don't deny it," he said very quietly. "But if you knew the whole story."

"Then tell me the whole story." Aileen demanded. "Tell me why." Aileen whispered the last question her voice echoing with all the emotions that she refused to show as she held her wand steady. The anger, the sadness, the hope, the desire, the sole wrenching loneliness.

And then came a new sound, stopping whatever it was Black was going to say. Muffled footsteps were echoing up through the floor - someone was moving downstairs.

"WE'RE UP HERE!" Hermione screamed suddenly. "WE'RE UP HERE - SIRIUS BLACK - QUICK!"

The door of the room burst open in a shower of red sparks and Aileen turned her head just slightly to see Professor Lupin came hurtling into the room, his face bloodless, his wand raised and ready. His eyes flickered over Ron, lying on the floor, over Hermione, cowering next to him, to Aileen, standing there with her wand directly at Black's chest as she stood protectively in front of her friends. And finally to Black who stood with his wand ready in hand.

"Expelliarmus!" Lupin shouted.

Aileen's wand would have flown from her hand had she not had an excellent grip. Instead she was pushed back two steps while Hermione lost her wand. Lupin caught it deftly, then moved into the room, staring at Black, ignoring the fact that he held one wand instead of two.

Then Lupin spoke, in a very tense voice. "Where is he, Sirius?"

Black's face was quite expressionless. For a few seconds, he didn't move at all. Then, very slowly, he raised his empty hand and pointed straight at Ron. Aileen shot a quick look back at Ron who looked bewildered before she refocused her attention on the men.

"But then..." Lupin muttered, staring at Black so intently it seemed he was trying to read his mind, "...why hasn't he shown himself before now? Unless" - Lupin's eyes suddenly widened, as though he was seeing something beyond Black, something none of the rest could see, "- unless he was the one...unless you switched... without telling me?"

Very slowly, his sunken gaze never leaving Lupin's face, Black nodded.

Lupin was lowering his wand, gazing fixed at Black. The Professor walked to Black's side, seized his hand and embraced Black like a brother. Aileen watched this all with sharp, critical eyes. She had most of the puzzle already and Lupin's word weren't a complete mystery. But there was still something she was missing something obvious.

"I DON'T BELIEVE IT!" Hermione screamed.

Lupin let go of Black and turned to her. She had raised herself off the floor and was pointing at Lupin, wild-eyed. "You - you -"

"Hermione -" Lupin raised his hands, trying to calm his distressed down.

"You and him!" Hermione pointed between the two men, obviously trying to understand what was going on.

"Hermione, calm down -"

"I didn't tell anyone!" Hermione shrieked. "I've been covering up for you -"

"Hermione, listen to me, please" Lupin raised his voice in an attempted to get through to her. "I can explain -"

"You're his friend…" Ron whispered in worry, interrupting Lupin this time. Ron pulled himself into a sitting position but not doing anymore after the sharp look Aileen shot him. Because out of all the people in that room a protective Aileen was probably the most terrifying part to him.

"You're wrong," said Lupin. "I haven't been Sirius's friend, but I am now - Let me explain..."

"NO!" Hermione screamed. "Aileen, don't trust him, he's been helping Black get into the castle, he wants you dead too - he's a werewolf!"

"I know he's a werewolf Hermione. However that doesn't bother me." Aileen said calmly her eyes still fixed solely on the two men in front of her. Her wand was no longer raised but this didn't mean anything. She had been fighting for her life for so long that she could respond quicker than either of the men in front of her. Especially Black who was still trembling in anger, and didn't appear to be fully engaged in what was happening around him.

"Not at all up to your usual standard, Hermione," Lupin said, looking remarkably calm considering that two of his student's just admitted to knowing he's a werewolf. "Only one out of three, I'm afraid. I have not been helping Sirius get into the castle and I certainly don't want Aileen dead." An odd shiver passed over his face. "But I won't deny that I am a werewolf."

Ron made a valiant effort to get up again but fell back with a whimper of pain. Lupin made toward him, looking concerned, but Ron gasped, "Get away from me, werewolf!"

Aileen turned slightly and cast a pain numbing spell at Ron. Until this situation was resolved there was little else she could did. However, if Ron continued to move, she would stun him in order to stop him injuring himself further. The stunner would be better than a pain potion since it took seconds to shake of a stunner once the counter was cast while the pain potion could not Ron out for hours.

Lupin stopped dead. Then, with an obvious effort, he turned to Hermione and said, "How long have you known?"

"Ages," Hermione whispered. "Since I did Professor Snape's essay..."

"He'll be delighted," said Lupin coolly. "He assigned that essay hoping someone would realize what my symptoms meant... Did you check the lunar chart and realize that I was always ill at the full moon? Or did you realize that the Boggart changed into the moon when it saw me?"

"Both," Hermione said quietly.

Lupin forced a laugh. "You're the cleverest witch of your age I've ever met, Hermione."

"I'm not," Hermione whispered. "If I'd been a bit cleverer, I'd have told everyone what you are!"

"But they already know," said Lupin. "At least, the staff do."

"Dumbledore hired you when he knew you were a werewolf," Ron gasped. "Is he mad?"

"Yes the Headmaster is undeniably mad. However, he is not mad for hiring a werewolf because Professor Lupin took the precaution's necessary to keep the students safe. That potion professor Snape was making him is known as the wolfsbane. It allows a werewolf too keep their mind the night of the full moon." Aileen said softly, trying to calm her friends so that they could return to the true reason they were in his Shrieking Shack.

Black's lips twitched lightly in amusement about what Aileen had said about the headmaster, showing that he was still aware of his surroundings enough that he was listening to what they were saying even if he came to the shack with a goal in mind.

"When did you figure it out?" Professor Lupin asked curiously. Of all his students, Aileen had shown the most trust and respect in him by allowing him to tutor her in more advanced defence techniques after hours. And if she had known that he was a werewolf for as long as her friend, then she truly did take after her parents.

"I'm training to be a healer. It took a couple of weeks after I visited your office the first time. When Professor Snape brought you a potion I didn't recognised to help with an illness that I could not identify." Aileen answered crisply. "How did you know we were here?" Aileen asked. If the only way she was going to get answers was by asking direct questions, they by the gods she would get her answers.

"The map," said Lupin. "The Marauder's Map. I was in my office examining it -"

"You know how to work it?" Hermione said suspiciously.

"Of course I know how to work it," said Lupin, waving his hand impatiently. "I helped write it. I'm Moony - that was my friends' nickname for me at school."

Aileen's eyes suddenly widened. Another part of the puzzle falling into place. If Lupin had been a werewolf and called Mooney and Sirius had been a dog animagus (mostly called Padfoot) then the other members of their little group had also been animagus. Aileen guessed that Prongs was her dad, and as the only other name associated with the group, Wormtail had to be Peter. However, that didn't mean she knew what specific animal they turned into or how their animagus forms liked into what happened to her parents and led to Sirius breaking out of Azkaban.

"The important thing is, I was watching it carefully this evening, because I had an idea that you, Ron, and Hermione might try and sneak out of the castle to visit Hagrid before his Hippogriff was executed. And I was right, wasn't I?"

He had started to pace up and down, looking at them. Little patches of dust rose at his feet.

Aileen cast a wide spread "Depulso," followed swiftly by "Scourgify" to remove the dust in the room. She didn't need it obscuring her vision. Also it's unhealthy for the lungs to breath in dust and considering Black's extended stay in Azkaban, Aileen imagined, his immune system would be quite pour at the moment (no matter how well Aileen had treated him the past eight, nearly nine months).

"You might have been wearing your father's old cloak, Aileen, but eventhen, you still show up on the Marauder's Map. I watched you cross the grounds and enter Hagrid's hut. Twenty minutes later, you left Hagrid, and set off back toward the castle. But you were now accompanied by somebody else."

"We weren't…" Hermione began but Lupin ignored her. He just continued his pacing and talking.

"I couldn't believe my eyes. I thought the map must be malfunctioning. How could he be with you?"

"The same dot that I saw inside the castle. The same one I knew couldn't possibly exist?" Aileen questioned but was ignored by the professor who was struggling to come to terms with his own thought process.

"And then I saw another dot, moving fast toward you, labelled Sirius Black...I saw him collide with you; I watched as he pulled two of you into the Whomping Willow -"

"One of us!" Ron said angrily.

"No, Ron," said Lupin. "Two of you." He had stopped his pacing, his eyes moving over Ron. "Do you think I could have a look at the rat?" he said evenly.

"What?" said Ron. "What's Scabbers got to do with it?"

"Everything," said Lupin. "Could I see him, please?"

Ron hesitated, then put a hand inside his robes. Scabbers emerged, thrashing desperately; Ron had to seize his long bald tail to stop him escaping. Crookshanks stood up on the bed and made a soft hissing noise.

Lupin moved closer to Ron. He seemed to be holding his breath as he gazed intently at Scabbers.

"What?" Ron said again, holding Scabbers close to him, looking scared. "What's my rat got to do with anything?"

"That's not a rat,"

said Black suddenly.

"What d'you mean - of course he's a rat -"

"No, he's not," said Lupin quietly. "He's a wizard."

"An Animagus," said Black, "by the name of Peter Pettigrew."

"How do you know?" Aileen demanded. "Out of all the rats in the world how do you know that this one is Peter Pettigrew?" she had her suspicious about the rat of course but she wanted answers. "After all, Peter Pettigrew's dead!"Aileen's eyes shifted to Black. "You apparently killed him twelve years ago!"

"I meant to," he growled, his animagus form obviously effecting his human one, "but little Peter got the better of me...not this time, though!"

Black lunged at Scabbers,but Aileen was suddenly there, her arms wrapped around Black. Pinning his arms to his side as she pulled him forcefully back from her friends.

"Sirius, NO!" Lupin yelled, grabbing Black's shoulder when Aileen had finally pulled him several feet away. The man's werewolf strength heling her in containing the enraged convict. "WAIT! You can't do it just like that - they need to understand - we've got to explain -"

"We can explain afterwards!" snarled Black, trying to throw Lupin and Aileen off.

"SIRIUS ORION BLACK YOU WILL CEASE THIS CHILDISH BEHAVIOUR RIGHT THIS INSTINT!" Aileen said her voice laced with furry. Black went slack in her arms allowing Aileen to release him and walk around so she was once again between him and her friends. Only Lupin's hand on his shoulder seemed to keep him on his feet after Aileen's outburst.

"Now, explain, quickly, how did you know that is Peter Pettigrew? How did he survive all those nights ago? How could you be responsible for my parent's murder and yet still claim innocents? And why did you not reveal yourself to me before now?"

"I… I was scared… didn't know how you would react." Black admitted after a long moment, straitening himself out and trying to meet Aileen's eyes.

He decided to ignore everyone else in the room for now, and focus on the one person he had wrong above all others. It had been his responsibility to look after James' little girl when he was gone, but he had failed. And she had already grown into an impressive warrior, facing dangers he couldn't recognise without blinking. Then there had been the scars he had seen on her body that one time she had forgotten her shirt when they were staying at the Leakey Cauldron. No child should have scars like that on their body. And then there was her kindness in taking in a stray dog despite all else. And her understanding and compassion in allowing him to explain himself despite the fact that he kept making mistakes. She was offering him something that not even his closest friend, or the leader of what he fought for, had offered when he was first captured at the end of the war. She was giving him a chance.

"I wanted to get Pettigrew, prove that he was still alive and clear my name. Then I was going to approach you. I'd already fail you… I didn't want to fail you again. But I needed to see you, need to know that you were alright. So I hunted you down, and you showed me such kindness. You weren't happy where you were, I could smell blood on you far too often, but you played with me and those children. Little Amy reminded me of you, when you were younger…" Sirius trailed off staring into a void they couldn't see.

"You're nutters," said Ron shakily, looking round at Aileen and Hermione for support. "I've had enough of this. I'm off."

He tried to heave himself up on his good leg, but Lupin raised his wand again, pointing it at Scabbers.

"You're going to hear me out, Ron," he said quietly. "Just keep a tight hold on Peter while you listen."

"HE'S NOT PETER, HE'S SCABBERS!" Ron yelled, trying to force the rat back into his front pocket, but Scabbers was fighting too hard; Ron swayed and overbalanced.

Aileen's quick reflexes and deceptive strength allowed her to catch Ron before he hurt himself further, and lower him to the bed which Crookshanks still occupied, watching the proceedings with sharp eyes. With gentle hands, Aileen took the rat from Ron, holding him so that his arms and legs couldn't move. With the rat secure, she turned back to Black and Lupin who were both once again watching the rat keenly.

"There were witnesses who saw Pettigrew die," Hermione spoke up, moving to Ron's side from where she had stood before. She was trying to be the voice of reason, she could see from Aileen's stance that she believe what she was being told by Black and Lupin, but Hermione didn't want to see her friend hurt – or worse killed – because these men had played on her heart and deceived her. If Black continued his story as he was, Aileen would lower her defences completely, and Hermione couldn't allow that. There was too much about this story that just didn't make sense. "A whole street full of them..."

"They didn't see what they thought they saw!" Black disagreed, shaking his head to temporally clear the murderous thoughts flying through his mind. He knew the strength of Aileen's grip, and he had no doubt that she would keep a tight hold of that rat until everything was cleared up.

"Everyone thought Sirius killed Peter," said Lupin, nodding. "I believed it myself - until I saw themaptonight. Because the Marauder's map never lies... Peter's alive."

"But Professor Lupin...Scabbers can't be Pettigrew...it just can't be true, you know it can't..." Hermione tried to sound calm but her voice wobbled. Aileen could tell that she was terrified, but tying to be brave in the face of logic.

"Why can't it be true?" Lupin said calmly, as though they were inclass, and Hermione had simply spotted a problem in an experiment with Grindylows. His calm acceptance, and logical reasoning was an attempt to calm his student and put her at ease. He would have much preferred it if the children hadn't gotten involved at all, but now they were it was his job to protect them and keep them calm as they explained the situation.

"Because... because people would know if Peter Pettigrew had been an Animagus. We did Animagi in class with Professor McGonagall. And I looked them up when I did my homework - the Ministry of Magic keeps tabs on witches and wizards who can become animals; there's aregistershowing what animal they become, and their markings and things...and I went and looked Professor McGonagall up on the register, and there have been only seven Animagi this century, and Pettigrew's name wasn't on the list."

"Black isn't on the register Hermione. But he is an animagi." Aileen spoke calmly, knowing Hermione was more likely to receive that information better from her then Lupin.

"There were three us." Black agreed, "Me, Pettigrew, and Aileen's father, James. We became animagus in our fifth year…" his explanation was cut off as there was a load creak behind Lupin. Thebedroomdoor had opened of its own accord. All five of them stared at it. Then Lupin strode toward it and looked out into the landing.

"No one there..." but Aileen wasn't looking to the landing, she was looking to the left of the door. Where Black had stood in shadow when Aileen and Hermione first entered. She saw a slight flicker of light, indicative of someone under the invisibility charm. And she recognised that magic…

"This place is haunted!" said Ron.

"It's not,' said Lupin, still looking at the door in a puzzled way. "The Shrieking Shack was never haunted...The screams and howls the villagers used to hear were made by me."

He pushed his graying hair out of his eyes, thought for a moment then said, "That's where all of this starts - with my becoming a werewolf. None of this could have happened if I hadn't been bitter...and if I hadn't been so foolhardy..."

He looked sober and tired. Ron started to interrupt, but Hermione, said, "Shh!" She was watching Lupin very intently.

"I as a very small boy when I received the bite. My parents tried everything, but in those days there was no cure. The potion that Professor Snape has been making for me is a very recent discovery. It makes me safe, you see. As long as I take it in the week, preceding the full moon, I keep my mind when I transform...I'm able to curl up in my office, a harmless wolf, and wait for the moon to wane again.

Before the Wolfsbane Potion was discovered, however, I became a fully-fledged monster once a month. It seemed impossible that I would be able to come to Hogwarts. Other parents weren't likely to want their children exposed to me. But then Dumbledore became Headmaster, and he was sympathetic. He said that as long as we took certain precautions, there was no reason I shouldn't come to school..." Lupin sighed.

"His transformations were painful." Black added, noticing that his friend was struggling. "Without a pack, and locked in the shack once a month, he turned on himself."

"But apart from my transformations, I was happier than I had ever been in my life. For the first time ever, I had friends, three great friends. Sirius Black...Peter Pettigrew...and, of course, your father, Aileen - James Potter." Lupin took up the story again, in a manor eerily similar of the Weasley twins.

"But we could hardly fail to notice how one of our best friend's kept disappearing once a month around the night of the fall moon. He use to make up the worst of excuses…" Sirius trailed of, a teasing smile pulling at the corner of his mouth.

"And despite my greatest fear, they didn't desert me when they found out. They researched the nature of werewolves, and found that I wouldn't harm animals, nor could I turn them if I was to bit them while during a full moon. So they became Animagi." Lupin shook his head, like he still couldn't believe his friends would do that for him.

"It took them the best part of three years to work out how to do it. Your father and Sirius here were the cleverest students in the school and James was particularly skilled in the art of transfiguration. Finally, in our fifth year, they managed it."

"But how did that help you?" said Hermione, sounding puzzled not quite understanding why the Animagi transformation was so important in this tale.

"They couldn't keep me company as humans, so they kept me company as animals," Lupin explained fully. "A werewolf is only a danger to people. They sneaked out of the castle every month under James's Invisibility Cloak. They transformed...Peter, as the smallest, could slip beneath the Willow's attacking branches and touch the knot that freezes it. They would then slip down the tunnel and join me. Under their influence, I became less dangerous. My body was still wolfish, but my mind seemed to become less so while I was with them."

"Because you had a pack," Aileen nodded her agreement with what the professor was saying. Over the years she had studied a lot about animals, including wolves. "Wolves are pack creatures, they do not like to be alone. You found a family in the marauders, and that calmed the beast."

"We got cocky in our own intelligence. After a while we started leaving the safety of the Shake and its wards. We started roaming the castle during nights of a full moon. I still feel guilty, about endangering lives and betraying Dumbledore's trust, even to this day. But I haven't change." Lupin's face had hardened, and there was self-disgust in his voice.

"All this year, I have been battling with myself, wondering whether I should tell Dumbledore that Sirius was an Animagus. But I didn't do it. Why? Because I was too cowardly. It would have meant admitting that I'd betrayed his trust while I was at school, admitting that I'd led others along with me...and Dumbledore's trust has meant everything to me. He let me into Hogwarts as a boy, and he gave me a job when I have been shunned all my adult life, unable to find paid work because of what I am. And so I convinced myself that Sirius was getting into the school using dark arts he learned from Voldemort, that being an Animagus had nothing to do with it. I suppose, Snape had been right about me all along. If I had just spoken up, Sirius never would have made it into the castle."

"Snape?"Black asked confused for a moment, but there was evidence of thinly concealed anger. "Aileen said he taught here."

"Professor Snape was at school with us." Lupin explained, noticing the confusion of his student's faces at the familiarity that they were speaking of their professor with. "He fought very hard against my appointment to the Defense Against the Dark Arts job. He has been telling Dumbledore all year that I am not to be trusted. He has his reasons...you see, Sirius here played a trick on him which nearly killed him, a trick which involved me -"

"I should never have endangered him." Black sighed, guilt and shame bleeding through into his posture and tone instead of the anger and murderous intent that he had been showing up to this point. "No matter my reasons at the time."

"Severus was very interested in where I went every month." Lupin told Aileen, Ron, and Hermione. "We were in the same year, you know, and we - er - didn't like each other very much. He especially disliked James. Jealous, I think, of James's talent on the Quidditch field..." Aileen heard his hesitation here. Snape was not jealous of her father's skills on the pitch. There was something else, another reason for the hatred. A reason that Black new, if his incredulous look at Lupin was anything to go by.

"Anyway Snape had seen me crossing the grounds with Madam Pomfrey one evening as she led me toward the Whomping Willow to transform. Sirius thought it would be - er - amusing, to tell Snape all he had to do was prod the knot on the tree trunk with a long stick, and he'd be able to get in after me. Well, of course, Snape tried it - if he'd got as far as this house, he'd have met a fully grown werewolf - but your father, who'd heard what Sirius had done, went after Snape and pulled him back, at great risk to his life...Snape glimpsed me, though, at the end of the tunnel. He was forbidden by Dumbledore to tell anybody, but from that time on he knew what I was..."

"So that's why Professor Snape doesn't like you," said Aileen, "because he thought you were in onit?"

"That's right," sneered a cold voice from the wall behind Lupin. Severus Snape was pulling off the Invisibility charm he had weaved around himself, his wand pointing directly at Lupin.

Hermione screamedin shock. She had been so entrapped in the tailing unfolding before her, she was surprised at the entrance of her professor and the hatred showing on his face.

"You're wondering, perhaps, how I knew you were here?" he said, his eyes glittering. "I've just been to your office, Lupin. You forgot to take your potion tonight, so I took a goblet full along. And very lucky I did...lucky for me, I mean. Lying on your desk was a certainmap. One glance at it told me all I needed to know. I saw you running along this passageway and out of sight."

"Severus -" Lupin began, but Snape overrode him.

"I've told the headmaster again and again that you're helping your old friend Black into the castle, Lupin, and here's the proof. Not even I dreamed you would have the nerve to use this old place as your hideout -"

"Professor." Aileen spoke up before Lupin could. Snape shot her a glare but Aileen ploughed on. "I was the one who let Sirius Black into the castle."

"What?" Snape demanded harshly, his wand still not lowered.

"He found me at my relatives. I though he was a stray dog and after a couple of weeks I took him in. When I realised that I couldn't bring a dog to Hogwarts I contacted the headmaster who allowed him to stay with Hagrid after he met me to assess how safe he was. Professor Lupin was not aware of Black's presence on the school grounds nor was he helping him into the castle; evidenced by the fact that Halloween night he was at the feast and the second time Black made it into the school he used a list of passwords that Neville had written down." Aileen took a step forward. "Now please, calm down and just listen."

"Have they truly addled your brain even more Potter?" Snape sneered. "They are criminals who I will return to the care of the Dementors."

"You fool," said Lupin softly. "Is a schoolboy grudge worth putting an innocent man back inside Azkaban?"

BANG! Thin, snakelike cords burst from the end of Snape's wand and twisted themselves around Lupin's mouth, wrists, and ankles; he overbalanced and fell to the floor, unable to move. With a roar of rage, Black started toward Snape, but Snape pointed his wand straight between Black's eyes.

"Give me a reason," he whispered. "Give me a reason to do it, and I swear I will."

Black stopped dead. It would have been impossible to say which face showed more hatred.

Aileen stepped forward placing her hand gently on the hand Black was clenching Ron's wand in. "Black, I have given you the chance to explain yourself and if you attempt to attack Professor Snape I will not listen any further."

Black remained tense for several long moments, glaring in hatred at Snape before he relaxed slightly and took a step back, giving his wand to Aileen in an evident show of trust. Snape's eyes narrowed but his wand lowered so it was now pointing at Black's chest instead of between his eyes.

Hermione, chose that moment to take an uncertain step toward Snape and said, in a very breathless voice, "Professor Snape - it wouldn't hurt to hear what they've got to say, w-would it?"

"Miss Granger, you are already facing suspension from this school," Snape spat. "You, Potter, and Weasley are out-of-bounds, in the company of a convicted murderer and a werewolf. For once in your life, hold your tongue."

"But if - if there was a mistake -"

"KEEP QUIET, YOU STUPID GIRL!" Snape shouted, looking suddenly quite deranged. "DON'T TALK ABOUT WHAT YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!" A few sparks shot out of the end of his wand. Hermione fell silent.

"The joke's on you again, Severus," Black spoke then, from the way his hands were shaking, it was obviously taking him an awful lot of effort to remain calm. "As long asAileen brings that rat up to the castle" - he jerked his head to Aileen's hand that still held the rat - "I'll come quietly..."

"Up to the castle?" said Snape silkily. "I don't think we need to go that far. All I have to do is call the Dementors once we get out of the Willow. They'll be very pleased to see you, Black...pleased enough to give you a little kiss, I daresay...I -"

"Professor that's against the law." Aileen snapped when she saw the colour drain from Black's face and he swayed slightly. Using the hand that still held her wand and now Ron's, Aileen reached over and steadied him while she passed the rat back to Hermione who gave it to Ron to hold onto.

"You - you've got to hear me out," he croaked. "The rat - look at the rat -"

But there was a mad glint in Snape's eyes that Aileen had never seen before. He seemed beyond reason.

"Come on, all of you," he said. He clicked his fingers, and the ends of the cords that bound Lupin flew to his hands. "I'll drag the werewolf."

"No," Aileen switched her wand to her off hand while she continued to suddenly weak convict. "Professor, if Black is telling the truth then he has spent the last twelve years locked in prison for a crime he didn't commit. I refuse to allow you to go through with this cause of action without at least seeking the council of Headmaster Dumbledore. If you do not stop and listen to reason I will stun you." Aileen did not like threatening Snape but he was obviously far too angry to see reason.

"SILENCE! I WILL NOT BE SPOKEN TO LIKE THAT!" Snape shrieked, looking madder than ever. "Like father, like daughter, Potter! I have just saved your neck; you should be thanking me on bended knee! You would have been well served if he'd killed you! You'd have died like your father, too arrogant to believe you might be mistaken in Black - now get out of the way, or I will make you. GET OUT OF THE WAY, POTTER!"

Before Professor Snape could do anything about the fact she was now stood between him and Black, Aileen had raised her wand.

"Stupefy."

Except she wasn't the only voice that cried out.

Word count: 15,013

Copied: 7,129

Edited: 12/09/2017


	23. Chapter 23: I Believe You Edited

Okay, lets start with: I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER. I'm just happily playing in JK's sand box. I DON'T OWN PERCY JACKSON either. I'm only allowed to play on the swing sets (pouts).

So, the next thing on my list of things to put on the top of this story: I've used a lot of the book structure of the first four years. By this I mean Aileen will be face a troll, save a dragon, go down the third floor, be blamed for opening the chamber, reveal her parseltongue abilities in the dueling club, save Ginny and kill the basilisk, and confront Sirius at the end of third year. Aileen will also be entered into the goblet, however she will be complete the tasks completely differently to Harry. If you don't like stories that do this then this isn't the story for you. Although I divert most majorly from the story line after book four, there are points through the first four years were Aileen dose something that Harry would never do because that is the way I've portrayed my character.

And finally, I have heavily edited the first twenty four chapters. You need to re-read the entire story to understand what happens after that point because it all ties together. By heavily edited, I mean nearly 40% of my story has completely been re-written. There is better characterization, more realistic sword skills and a little bit more on the emotional explanation of my character.

* * *

Chapter 23: I Believe You

The combined forces of several spells hitting Snape in the chest lifted him off his feet, and threw him into the wall. The fact that their spells made contact showed how truly angry Snape was, because if he had been thinking clearly their spells would have never hit him. Aileen looked to Hermione, who still had her wand raised. She had tried to disarm Snape at the same time that Aileen had tried stunning him.

Aileen moved forward and knelt next to the professor quickly checking to make sure that the damage wasn't too serious. A mild concussion and a slight fracture of the skull. With careful movements Aileen healed the fracture but there was nothing she could do for a concussion. Instead of leaving the professor in a slumped position against the wall, she carefully braced his neck and lay him on the ground, transfiguring a pillow from a piece of broken wood.

"You shouldn't have done that," said Black, looking at Aileen as she got up and moved over to Lupin to free him. "You should have left him to me..."

"We attacked ateacher...We attacked a teacher..." Hermione whimpered, staring at theprone form of Snape with frightened eyes. "Oh, we're going to be in so much trouble -"

"Hermione, its fine. Professor Snape was behaving irrationally, we were doing what we had to. And if he takes it out on you… well he's always hated me more. I'm on good enough terms with the headmaster that he'll listen to what I have to say about what happened." Aileen shrugged slightly, trying to put her friend at ease. Despite having known her for three years, Aileen had yet to get Hermione to let go of her complete trust in authority. Aileen frowned slightly as she finally freed Lupin – the power professor Snape hade put behind the robes meant that she was force to cut him free with her dagger since the counter charm she knew was strong enough.

"Thank you,Aileen," Lupin thanked her as he inspected his arms, ensuring that he hadn't been cut by the robes tight grip on him.

"We need to get this over with quickly so that I can get Professor Snape and Ron to the hospital wing." Aileen replied curtly, her patients was running out and she had a terrible feeling in her gut - like they didn't have enough time.

"Ron, if I could have the rat please, I can prove that he's Peter." Lupin said, turning to Ron who was once again clutching Scabbers close to his chest.

"Come off it," he said weakly. "Are you trying to say he broke out of Azkaban just to get his hands on Scabbers? I mean..." He looked up at Aileen and Hermione for support, "Okay, say Pettigrew could turn into a rat - there are millions of rats - how's he supposed to know which one he is after if he was locked up in Azkaban?"

"You know, Sirius, that's a fair question," said Lupin, turning to Black and frowning slightly. "How did you find out where he was?"

Black straightened himself out. It appeared as though he was more than happily to prove that the rat was Pettigrew and that everything he had said was the truth. Something Aileen could understand: by proving that Pettigrew was alive and the one to betray her parents, Black would become a free man once more.

Placing his hand inside his robes (which Aileen only just realised weren't the standard prison garb but rather looked like an enlarged Hogwarts robe that had the crest's removed), Black drew a crumpled piece of paper out. With shacking, skeletal thin figures, he smoothed out the picture to show that it was a photo from the Daily Prophet. A photo that Aileen recognised, it was the one Ron sent to her when his parent's one the money to go to Egypt. And there, and detail she hadn't paid attention to last time, was Scabbers sat on Ron's shoulder.

"I thought you were in maximum security, which means no mail including the newspaper." Aileen observed.

"There is a bimonthly cell inspection, I always tried to get what reading material I could to distract myself. Fudge was on his once yearly inspection, and he gave me the paper – I think he was unnerved at how sane I was." Black shrugged slightly. "The number of times I had seen Peter transform, I recognised him instantly. And the caption said the boy would be going back to Hogwarts...to where Aileen was..."

"My God," said Lupin softly, staring from Scabbers to the picture in the paper and back again. "His front paw..."

"What about it?" said Ron defiantly.

"He's got a toe missing," Black explained like this answered everything. Aileen raised an eyebrow at him, silently demanding that Black explain that statement. "When I finally cornered Peter, he yellowed for the whole street to hear that I'd betrayed Lily and James. Then, before I could curse him, he blew apart the street with the wand behind his back, killed everyone within twenty feet of himself - and sped down into the sewer with the other rats..."

"His finger," Aileen recalled, "The largest part of Pettigrew they could find following the explosion was his finger. I had thought that was rather odd." Aileen admitted.

"Look, Scabbers probably had a fight with another rat or something! He's been in my family for ages, right-"

"Twelve years, in fact," said Lupin. "Didn't you ever wonder why he was living so long?"

"We - we've been taking good care of him!" said Ron.

"Not looking too good at the moment, though, is he?" said Lupin. "I'd guess he's been losing weight ever since he heard Sirius was on the loose again..."

"He's been scared of that mad cat!" said Ron, nodding toward Crookshanks, who was still purring on the bed next to Ron but wasn't taking much interest in what was going on about him beyond keeping an eye on Sirius.

"This cat isn't mad," said Black. He reached out a hand and stroked Crookshanks's fluffy head. "He's the most intelligent of his kind I've ever met. He recognized Peter for what he was right away. And when he met me, he knew I was no dog. It was a while before he trusted me...Finally, I managed to communicate to him what I was after, and he's been helping me..."

"That's why he kept trying to get the rat." Aileen realised. She had always found it odd how Crookshanks fixated on one rat when the castle was full of them and he had shown a preference for spiders. "That's how you got the passwords right, Crookshanks stole the list from Neville?"

"Yes." Black smiled slightly, pleased that Aileen was started to believe him. "But Peter got wind of what was going on and ran for it. The cat – Crookshanks, did you say? – informed me about the blood stained sheets you found. I supposed he bit himself...Well, faking his own death had worked once."

"What I would like to know is why Pettigrew thought he needed to hide? Why you went after him? Why you believe you killed my parents and still claim to be innocent?" Aileen finally spoke up again after a moment of silence. Black had answer most of her questions up to this point, and she could guess at what had happened but she wanted to hear the words from him.

"Aileen...I…. I as good as killed them." Black admitted, he looked to be struggling with his emotions as he looked away from the rat and instead focused solely on Aileen. "I was the one to convince your parents to change the secret keeper from me to Peter. I had been attacked several times you see, and I didn't want to risk getting caught and endangering you. You see the Feldius charm has two main weaknesses, you have to trust your secret keeper explicitly, and if your secret keeper dies then the charm breaks. I couldn't risk it, and in the end James agreed. That's why I'm to blame. If I hadn't…" Black chocked on his words for a moment.

"The night they died, I had arrange to check in on Peter. I wanted to make sure he was still safe, although we had no reason to believe he was a target – after all everyone thought I was still the secret keeper! But when I arrived at his place, I found Peter gone, and there wasn't any sign of a struggle. I knew something wasn't right, and it scared me. That's why I made my way to your parent's house. When I saw the house, destroyed, and the James body… I realised what Peter had done." Black's voice broke as he turned away, trying to hide the tears that had escaped from his control as he remembered what happened the night his world fell apart.

"Enough of this," said Lupin, and there was a steely note in his voice Aileen had never heard before. "There's one certain way to prove what really happened. Ron, give me that rat."

"What are you going to do with him if I give him to you?" Ron asked Lupin tensely.

"Force him to show himself," said Lupin. "If he really is a rat, it won't hurt him."

Ron hesitated. Then at long last, he held out Scabbers and Lupin took him. Scabbers began to squeak without stopping, twisting and turning, his tiny black eyes bulging in his head. "Ready, Sirius?" said Lupin.

Black had already retrieved Snape's wand from the bed. Aileen still had a hold of Ron's wand and he wanted to be able to prove that the rat was truly alive. Wanted to be able to prove his innocents to the one person who had been wronged and hurt the most that night. He approached Lupin and the struggling rat.

"Together?" he said quietly, but there was a deeper meaning behind that statement. Silently asking if his old friend would stand by his side after this.

"I think so", said Lupin, holding Scabbers tightly in one hand and his wand in the other. "On the count of three. One - two - THREE!"

A flash of blue-white light erupted from both wands; for a moment, Scabbers was frozen in mid-air, his small grey form twisting madly - Ron yelled - the rat fell and hit the floor. There was another blinding flash of light and then –

It was like watching a speeded-up film of a growing tree. A head was shooting upward from the ground; limbs were sprouting; a moment later, a man was standing where Scabbers had been, cringing and wringing his hands. Crookshanks was spitting and snarling on the bed; the hair on his back was standing up.

He was a very short man, hardly taller than Aileen and Hermione. His thin, colourless hair was unkempt and there was a large bald patch on top. He had the shrunken appearance of a plump man who has lost a lot of weight in a short time. His skin looked grubby, almost like Scabbers's fur, and something of the rat lingered around his pointed nose and his very small, watery eyes. He looked around at them all, his breathing fast and shallow. Aileen saw his eyes dart to the door and back again.

"Well, hello, Peter," said Lupin pleasantly, as though rats frequently erupted into old school friends around him. "Long time, no see."

"S-Sirius...R-Remus..." Even Pettigrew's voice was squeaky. Again, his eyes darted toward the door. "My friends...my old friends..."

Not wanted to see the man escape Aileen shifted slightly so that she could move in front of her friends, the door or the window depending on where she was needed.

"We've been having a little chat, Peter, about what happened the night Lily and James died. You might have missed the finer points while you were squeaking around down there on the bed -"

"Remus," gasped Pettigrew, and Aileen could see beads of sweat breaking out over his pasty face, "you don't believe him, do you...? He tried to kill me, Remus..."

"So we've heard," said Lupin, more coldly. "I'd like to clear up one or two little matters with you, Peter, if you'll be so -"

"He's come to try and kill me again!" Pettigrew squeaked interrupting Lupin, obviously panicked and unwilling to answer any questions put towards him. He was going to try and pull the pity card, Aileen realised, trying to get away without explaining himself and blaming it all on Black – again. "He killed Lily and James and now he's going to kill me too... You've got to help me, Remus..."

Black's face looked morehaunted than ever as he staredat Pettigrew with his fathomless he didn't say anything, willing to let his calm friend handle the questions. Even before Azkaban he had been very emotional, and the damage done to his mind didn't help him with that – despite his improved Occlumency shields.

"No one's going to try and kill you until we've sorted a few things out," said Lupin.

"Sorted things out?" squealed Pettigrew, looking wildly about him once more, his eyes widened when he realised how Aileen had positioned herself meant that his only escape routes had been cut off and he couldn't afford to turn into a rat since Sirius was more than capable of stopping him, because despite his years in Azkaban he had been healing well in the last year. "I knew he'd come after me! I knew he'd be back for me! I've been waiting for this for twelve years!"

"You knew Sirius was going to break out of Azkaban?" said Lupin, his brow furrowed. "When nobody has ever done it before?"

"He's got dark powers the rest of us can only dream of!" Pettigrew shouted shrilly. "How else did he get out of there? I suppose He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named taught him a few tricks!"

Black laughed then, but it was humourless. It was the laugh of a man who completely disagreed with the statement that had just been made about him. A laugh that said he thought the other was idiotic, and foolish to make such an accusation. "Voldemort, teach me tricks?" he said.

Pettigrew flinched as though Black had brandished a whip at him.

"What, scared to hear your old master's name?" said Black, catching the flinch. Hermione and Ron had also twitched slightly at the name, but Aileen was starting to desensitise them to it. Ron was still the worse out of the two but they didn't react as dramatically as the majority of the wizarding population. Although Aileen was pleased to note that that was another person to add to her list of people who weren't scared of Voldemort's name. "I don't blame you, Peter. His lot aren't very happy with you, are they?"

"Don't know what you mean, Sirius -" muttered Pettigrew, his breathing faster than ever. His whole face was shining with sweat now.

"You haven't been hiding from me for twelve years," said Black. "You've been hiding from Voldemort's old supporters. I heard things in Azkaban, Peter... Oh, the things my cousin would scream. She thinks you betrayed her Lord… and if she thinks that, how many of the others do? Not all of them were locked away. There are still plenty out here, biding their time, pretending they've seen the error of their ways. If they ever got wind that you were still alive, Peter -"

"Don't know...what you're talking about..." said Pettigrew again, more shrilly than ever. He wiped his face on his sleeve and looked up at Lupin. "You don't believe this - this madness, Remus -"

"I must admit, Peter, I have difficulty in understanding why an innocent man would want to spend twelve years as a rat," said Lupin evenly.

"Innocent, but scared!" squealed Pettigrew. "If Voldemort's supporters were after me, it was because I put one of their best men in Azkaban - the spy, Sirius Black!"

"I would be a terrible spy, but you Peter…" Black shook his head mockingly. "You hung around us because we were more powerful then you were. Because we could protect you… help you. And we did, and we thought you were our friend. But someone bigger came along, and you threw us aside, like all those years were worth nothing to you." Black spat the last of his sentence, disgusted by what has once been a close friend of his.

Pettigrew wiped his face again; he was almost panting for breath. "Me, a spy...must be out of your mind...never...don't know how you can say such a -"

"You used to spy for us in school all the time… we should have known then." Black snapped back. "And you know what, the only reason Lily and James made you their Secret Keeper was because I persuaded them. I trusted you." He hissed that so venomously that Pettigrew took a step back in fear. "I thought it was the perfect plan...a bluff...Voldemort would be sure to come after me, would never dream they'd use a weak, talentless thing like you...It must have been the finest moment of your miserable life, telling Voldemort you could hand him the Potters."

Pettigrew was muttering distractedly; Aileen caught words like "far-fetched" and "lunacy," but she was used to paying more attention to the actions of body of others then their words. Pettigrew had become an ashen colour and his eyes continued to dart toward the windows and door. This told her far more about the man's character than any of the words spoken about him so far. He was a coward, looking out for his best interests above anything and everyone else.

"Professor Lupin?" said Hermione timidly. "Can - can I say something?"

"Certainly, Hermione," said Lupin courteously.

"Well - Scabbers - I mean, this - this man - he's been sleeping in Aileen'scommon area for three years. If he's working for You-Know-Who, how come he never tried to hurt Aileen before now?"

"There!" said Pettigrew shrilly, pointing at Hermione with his maimed hand. "Thank you! You see, Remus? I have never hurt a hair of Aileen's head! Why should I?"

"I'll tell you why," said Black, getting fed up with everything that was happening. He had just wanted to protect Aileen, and commit the murder that he was committed for, not spent hours explaining himself to two people who didn't believe him. Because he could see that Remus and Aileen believed what he had told them, they seemed to understand what had happened but the other children didn't and they couldn't get anything done until all their questions had been asked and they believed.

"Because you never did anything for anyone unless you could see what was in it for you. Voldemort's been in hiding for fifteen years, they say he's half dead. You weren't about to commit murder right under Albus Dumbledore's nose, for a wreck of a wizard who'd lost all of his power, were you? You'd want to be quite sure he was the biggest bully in the playground before you went back to him, wouldn't you? Why else did you find a wizard family to take you in? Keeping an ear out for news, weren't you, Peter? Just in case your old protector regained strength, and it was safe to rejoin him..."

Pettigrew opened his mouth and closed it several times. He seemed to have lost the ability to talk. Or rather, he had no way of defending himself from the accusations that Sirius had just thrown at him.

"Er - Mr. Black - Sirius?" said Hermione.

Black jumped at being addressed like this and stared at Hermione as though he had never seen anything quite like her.

"If you don't mind me asking, how - how did you get out of Azkaban, if you didn't use Dark Magic?"

Aileen also looked interested in the answered, because it had been worrying her. If Black could break out after 12 years, then maybe there was a weakness in Azkaban's defence and other (actual) Death Eaters could escape and search for their Lord.

"Thank you!" gasped Pettigrew, nodding frantically at her. "Exactly! Precisely what I -"

But Lupin silenced him with a look. Black was frowning slightly at Hermione, but not as though he were annoyed with her. He seemed to be pondering his answer. Trying to figure out the best way of explaining.

"Azkaban effects the mind, most people go insane. I think the only reason why I remained mostly sane was because I knew I was innocent, which wasn't exactly a happy thought. And when the Dementors overwhelmed me, I could retreat to my dog form, and because the mind was simpler the Dementors didn't affect me as much. The Dementors could tell that my feelings were less, but because they couldn't see, I think they assumed that I was losing my mind like everyone else. Despite that, I was weak and I had no hope of driving them away without a wand…" Black trailed off, his eyes clouding over as he remembered the pain filled years he had spent in Azkaban. "When I saw Peter in that picture… I snapped me out of the haze I had begun to fall into. I knew that Aileen would be at Hogwarts by then – and no matter what house she ended up in - that placed Peter in the perfect position to kill her if he heard anything about Voldemort's return."

Pettigrew was shaking his head, mouthing noiselessly, but staring all the while at Black as though hypnotized.

"So you see, I had to do something." Black looked to Aileen, ignoring the rest of the room as he focused on the reason he was still alive and sane. "I was the only one who knew Peter was still alive...It was as if someone had lit a fire in my head, and the Dementors couldn't destroy it...It wasn't a happy feeling...it was an obsession...but it gave me strength, it cleared my mind. So, one night when they opened my door to bring food, I slipped past them as a dog...It's so much harder for them to sense animal emotions that they were confused...I was thin, very thin...thin enough to slip through the bars...I swam as a dog back to the mainland ...I journeyed north until Ifound Aileen. I just wanted to see her once, before making my way to Hogwarts. I didn't expect you to take me in but it made my job easier. I could watch over you while I waited for my opportunity to strike."

"Believe me," Black pleaded, needing to know that James' daughter, his goddaughter, believed him. "Believe me, Aileen, I never betrayed James and Lily. I would have died before I betrayed them."

"I believe you," Aileen said. She had been having doubts about Black's guilt before this night, but now after everything had come out and she had seen Peter, she knew who she believed. Black was innocent, and she would see him free.

"No!"

Pettigrew had fallen to his knees as though Aileen's words had been his own death sentence. He shuffled forward on his knees, grovelling, his hands clasped in front of him as though praying.

"Sirius - it's me...it's Peter...your friend...you wouldn't -"

"You aren't my friend anymore." Black spat, kicking Peter away from him.

"Remus!" Pettigrew squeaked, turning to Lupin instead, writhing imploringly in front of him. "You don't believe this - wouldn't Sirius have told you they'd changed the plan?"

"Not if he thought I was the spy, Peter," said Lupin. "I assume that's why you didn't tell me, Sirius?" he said casually over Pettigrew's head.

"Forgive me, Remus," said Black.

"Not at all, Padfoot, old friend," said Lupin, who was now rolling up his sleeves. "And will you, in turn, forgive me for believing you were the spy?"

"Of course," said Black, and the ghost of a grin flitted across his face. He, too, began rolling up his sleeves. "Shall we kill him together?"

"Yes, I think so," said Lupin grimly.

"You wouldn't...you won't..." gasped Pettigrew. And he scrambled around to Ron, Aileen got in the way, stopping him from getting too close to her friends who were both watching with wide eyes.

"Ron...haven't I been a good friend...a good pet? You won't let them kill me, Ron, will you...you're on my side, aren't you?"

But Ron was staring at Pettigrew with the utmost revulsion. "I let you sleep in my bed!" he said.

"Kind boy...kind master..." Pettigrew tried to crawl toward Ron "You won't let them do it...I was your rat...I was a good pet..."

"If you made a better rat than a human, it's not much to boast about, Peter," said Black harshly. Ron, going still paler with pain (Aileen's spell running out again), turned his head away. Pettigrew turned on his knees, attempting to grab the hem of Hermione's robs but Aileen gripped his shoulder hard and pushed him back.

"Sweet girl...clever girl...you - you won't let them...Help me..."

Hermione backed away against the wall, looking horrified at the sorry excuse for a wizard that was begging school children to help spare his life.

Pettigrew knelt, trembling uncontrollably, and turned his head slowly toward Aileen who stood over him. But he didn't dare try and say anything to Aileen, he saw the truth in Aileen's eyes and the way she had acted towards him and Sirius. After all he had done to her, she wouldn't listened to his pleads.

Aileen stepped back as both Black and Lupin strode forward, seized Pettigrew's shoulders, and threw him backward onto the floor. He sat there, twitching with terror, staring up at them.

"You sold Lily and James to Voldemort," said Black, who was shaking too. "Do you deny it?"

Pettigrew burst into tears. It was horrible to watch, like an oversized, balding baby, cowering on the floor.

"Sirius, Sirius, what could I have done? The Dark Lord...you have no idea...he has weapons you can't imagine ...I was scared, Sirius, I was never brave like you and Remus and James. I never meant it to happen...He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named forced me -"

"DON'T LIE!" bellowed Black. "YOU'D BEEN PASSING INFORMATION TO HIM FOR A YEAR BEFORE LILY AND JAMES DIED! YOU WERE HIS SPY!"

"He - he was taking over everywhere!" gasped Pettigrew. "Wh-what was there to be gained by refusing him?"

"What was there to be gained by fighting the most evil wizard who has ever existed?" said Black, with a terrible fury in his face. "Only innocent lives, Peter!"

"You don't understand!" whined Pettigrew. "He would have killed me, Sirius!"

"THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED!" roared Black. "DIED RATHER THAN BETRAY YOUR FRIENDS, AS WE WOULD HAVE DONE FOR YOU!"

Black and Lupin stood shoulder to shoulder, wands raised.

"You should have realized," said Lupin quietly, "if Voldemort didn't kill you, we would. Good-bye, Peter."

Hermione covered her face with her hands and turned to the wall.

"Wait," Aileen stepped forward gently placing her hands on Lupins' and Black's raised wands. "You can't kill him."

Black and Lupin both looked staggered.

"Aileen, this piece of vermin is the reason you have no parents," Black snarled. "This cringing bit of filth would have seen you die too, without turning a hair. You heard him. His own stinking skin meant more to him than your whole family."

"I know,"Aileen said softly. "But if you kill him now then you both go to Azkaban. You won't be able to prove your innocent's Sirius." Aileen stepped forward and seized Peter's left arm before ripping the sleeve and revealing the faded Dark Mark that rested there. From her research into the war, she discovered that most of Voldemort's followers had been marked. "We'll take him up to the castle, the Minister and Dumbledore are there they can see his betrayal for themselves." Aileen stepped back so she was stood by Black and Lupin again. "He can go to Azkabanfor his crimes."

"Aileen!" gasped Pettigrew, and he flung his arms around Aileen's knees. "You - thank you - it's more than I deserve - thank you -"

"Get off me," Aileen spat, throwing Pettigrew's hands off her in disgust. "I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing it for them."

No one moved or made a sound except Pettigrew, whose breath was coming in wheezes as he clutched his chest. Black and Lupin were looking at each other. Then, with one movement, they lowered their wands and Aileen stepped out of the way.

"You're the only person who has the right to decide, Aileen," said Black. "But think... think what he did..."

"He can go to Azkaban," Aileen repeatedfirmly.

"Very well," said Lupin. Thin cords shot from Lupin's wand this time, and next moment, Pettigrew was wriggling on the floor, bound and gagged.

"But if you transform, Peter," growled Black, his own wand pointing at Pettigrew too, "we will kill you. You agree, Aileen?"

Aileen nodded her agreement. Pettigrew had been given warning and if he attempted to escape then Black and Lupin would not be charged with murder since they were subduing a murderer to the best of their abilities. Their memories and Black's testimony under truth serum – or oath – would be more than enough to have him cleared of all charges.

"What about Professor Snape?" said Hermione in a small voice, looking down at Snape's prone figure.

"He only has a slight concussion. It would be best if we float him out instead of forcibly wakening him up." Aileen said before she shot another pain numbing spell at Ron so that they could get him up to the castle.

"Mobilicorpus." Lupin muttered and as though invisible strings were tied to Snape's wrists, neck, and knees, he was pulled into a standing position, head lolling unpleasantly, like a grotesque puppet. Although she would have preferred to use the stretcher spell it wasn't practical considering the width and structure of the tunnel they had to get through in order to leave. However, she didn't want Professor Snape's concussion to get worse so Aileen fired her own binding spell that gently straightened and secure the professors neck, stopping it from lolling about and causing any more harm.

"And two of us should be chained to this," said Black, nudging Pettigrew with his toe. "Just to make sure."

"I'll do it," Lupin volunteered.

"And me," said Ron savagely, limping forward.

Showing that he still had impressive control of his magic despite the length of time he hadn't used it, Sirius conjured heavy manacles to chain to each of Pettigrew's arm. Because it was his right left injuries, Ron allowed his left arm to be attached to Pettigrew's right. Lupin then chained his right arm to Pettigrew's left. Recognising that they were about to leave, Crookshanks finally leapt from the bed, and lead the way out of the room. The way he held his bottlebrush tail in the air gave him a haughty impression, very much like he was saying he was better than them.

As they made their way from the shack into the tunnel, Aileen recognised with some amusement that she had never been with a stranger group. Crookshanks, the ginger cat that hated nearly everyone, led the way; then there was Lupin, Pettigrew and Ron who looked like they had been entered into the grimmest six-legged race and the judges had a laugh at the height selection. Hermione was behind the three, keeping an eye on Pettigrew and Ron to make sure that everything was all right.

Next came Professor Snape, who Aileen was directing since Aileen didn't trust the animosity between Sirius and her professor. Due to the man's height, and the spell that Lupin had cast, Aileen was having great difficulty manoeuvring the man without further injury and it added to the creepiness of it all when he would suddenly jerked slightly in one direction as Aileen moved him to avoid an obstacle.

Sirius brought up the rare although he tried to walk next to Aileen as best he could in the wider parts of the passage way.

"You know what this means?" Black asked suddenly as they were beginning their slow progress down the tunnel. Aileen had the feeling that he had been trying to gather his courage together while they were walking from the shack to the tunnel which was why he had made the effort to stay by her side. "Turning Pettigrew in?"

"You're free," Aileen answered, smiling at the man who had been very hard done by for the last twelve years. He deserved some good fortune.

"Yes..." said Black. "But I'm also - I don't know if anyone ever told you - I'm your godfather."

"No one actually told me, but I figured it out while I was looking into mum and dad. I was directed to your name because I was named heir of house Black, and could see how because I wasn't of the direct line." Aileen informed him.

"I named you my heir the same day I officially became your godfather." Sirius explained how that happened. "Because the bond we used required my blood – which subsequently legitimised you – and your grandmother was a Black, it meant the Black family magic would accept you. Your parents knew that you were the closest thing to a daughter I had, which was my they appointed me primary guardian if anything… if anything were to happen to them."

Aileen raised an eyebrow at that. That was a lot of information at once. Technically she hadn't needed legitimising since her mother was of a squib line that had re-emerged, but he appreciated the consequence because it meant if she hadn't discovered her mother's heritage she still would have been able to inherit her father's family title. Then there was a hint at her parent's Will which she hadn't thought to ask about because she figured it would have been executed when she was a baby. But if they truly did name Sirius as her guardian then it would have cast doubt on the case against Sirius, so she guessed that the Will was still on file somewhere. She would have to ask when she went to visit the goblins for that family tree.

And then finally, there was what Sirius was alluding to. He was trying to ask her if she wanted to some live with him – which she would be happy to do because it gave her a connection to her past, it was what her parents wanted, she wanted to get to know the man instead of the dog and it was a convenient loop hole of the protections around her house – but she had spent the last eight nearly nine months, being the one to look after Sirius. It was very ironic that he was now asking if he could assume guardianship of her.

"I'll understand, of course, if you want to stay with your aunt and uncle," Sirius said, although he looked rather uncertain at mentioning her relative. "But... well... think about it. Once my name's cleared... if you wanted a... a different home..."

"I would love to come live with you on two conditions." Aileen stated seriously interrupting the man's ream of self-doubt.

"Anything." He promised his eyes lighting up like a small child on Christmas.

"One, I do the cooking. And two, you have to convince Lupin to come live with us." Aileen said sternly. She may not have understood why the man hadn't made the effort to approach her over the year, but she was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. That and Sirius was going to need his friend by him.

"Well I was already planning on the second one. And I can't cook for shit, so I would be more then glad to agree to your terms as long as you teach me." Sirius said happily, bouncing along in besides her with the biggest smile on his face.

They didn't speak again until they had reached the end of the tunnel. Crookshanks darted up first; he had evidently pressed his paw to the knot on the trunk, because Lupin, Pettigrew, and Ron clambered upward without any sound of savaging branches. Hermione went next and helped Aileen guide Professor Snape out without injury.

The grounds were very dark now; the only light came from the distantwindowsof the castle. Without a word, they set off. Pettigrew was stillwheezingand occasionally whimpering.

"One wrong move, Peter," said Lupin threateningly ahead. His wand was still pointed sideways at Pettigrew's chest.

Silently they tramped through the grounds, the castle lights growing slowly larger. Snape was still drifting weirdly ahead of Aileen. And then –

A cloud shifted. There were suddenly dim shadows on the ground. Their party was bathed in moonlight. Aileen's breathing hitched and her eyes widened. It must have reached the height of the full moon by then. It was a common misconception that werewolves change the moment the moon rose, however, they didn't begin to transform until the full moon had reached it's height.

Aileen guided Professor Snape back, while Sirius grabbed Hermione and pulled her back behind him so that she wasn't near professor Lupin who had gone rigid.

"Oh, my -" Hermione gasped. "He didn't take his potion tonight! He's not safe!"

"Run," Black whispered. "Run. Now."

But Aileen couldn't run. Ron was chained to Pettigrew and Lupin.

"RON!" Aileen ducked under Black's arm drawing her wand so that she could quickly free her friend from the chains that held him. Sirius let out a frustrated growl but followed her – recognising that he couldn't just leave Ron in danger.

There was a terrible snarling noise. Lupin's head was lengthening. So was his body. His shoulders were hunching. Hair was sprouting visibly on his face and hands, which were curling into clawed paws. Crookshanks's hair was on end again; he was backing away –

As the werewolf reared, snapping its long jaws, Black disappeared from Aileen's side. He had transformed. The enormous, bearlike dog bounded forward. As the werewolf wrenched itself free of the manacle binding it, the dog seized it about the neck and pulled it backward, away from Ron (who Aileen had freed and was now pushing back towards Hermione and Snape) and Pettigrew. They were locked, jaw to jaw, claws ripping at each other.

Aileen watched, her wand clenched in her hand waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike without hitting Black. It was Hermione's scream that alerted her –

Pettigrew had dived for Lupin's dropped wand. Ron, unsteady on his bandaged leg, fell as he tried to stumble back from the man. There was a bang, a burst of light - and Ron lay motionless on the ground. Another bang - Crookshanks flew into the air and back to the earth in a heap.

"Expelliarmus." Aileen yelled, pointing her own wand at Pettigrew; Lupin's wand flew high into the air and out of sight. "Stupefy." Aileen followed with but Pettigrew had already begun to transform and the spell flew right over his head.

Aileen saw his bald tail whip through the manacle on and heard a scurrying through the grass. She had lost him and didn't have a hope in hell of catching him again. She turned to Black and Lupin to see what was happening. Lupin took flight into the forest while Black stood there watching. He had several cuts across this body but he must have caught Pettigrew's sent because he pounded away across the grounds.

Aileen and Hermione dashed over to Ron.

"What did he do to him?" Hermione whispered. Ron's eyes were only half-closed, his mouth hung open.

"Stunning spell but he didn't perform it correctly, not with a wand that did not respond correctly to his weakened magically core. I can't undo this – its spell damage that will disappear with time and nothing else. From the looks of him, two hours." Aileen said running her wand down Ron as she scanned him far more in-depth then she had before.

"We'd better get them up to the castle and tell someone," said Aileen as she turned to float Snape and Ron of the ground as the only one to know a spell capable of holding a floating body aloft.

But then, from beyond the range of their vision, they heard a yelping, a whining: a dog in pain...

"Sirius," Aileen muttered, staring into the darkness.

She had a moment's indecision, but there was nothing they could do for Ron at the moment, and by the sound of it, Sirius was in trouble –

"Hermione, get them to the castle." Aileen shouted before she took off running. Hermione ignored her ordered and followed behind her.

The yelping seemed to be coming from the ground near the edge of the lake. They pelted toward it, and Aileen, running flat out, felt the cold without realizing what it must mean –

The yelping stopped abruptly. As they reached the lakeshore, they saw why – Black had turned back into a man. He was crouched on all fours, his hands over his head.

"Nooo," he moaned. "Nooo... please..."

And then Aileen saw them. Dementors, at least a hundred of them, gliding in a black mass around the lake toward them. She spun around, the familiar, icy cold penetrating her insides, fog starting to obscure her vision; more were appearing out of the darkness on every side; they were encircling them...

"Hermione, think of something happy!" Aileen yelled, raising her wand.

Just like back in the classroom she focused on the memories of her dad. On the happiness that had engulfed her. "Expecto Patronum." Her shield appeared making a physical barrier in front of her and Black. But they were coming from all sides and it wouldn't do her much good if it remained only in front of her.

Black gave a shudder, rolled over, and lay motionless on the ground, pale as death.

"Expecto -" Hermione whispered, "expecto - expecto -" But she couldn't do it. The Dementors were closing in, barely ten feet from them. They formed a solid wall around them, and were getting closer...

Aileen focused, pushing her magic out and into the shield. Focusing on every happy memory, every feeling of love or joy she had ever felt. And she pushed it out of her and into the shield that now in circled the three of them.

But the strain was getting to her and she felt to one knee. Pulling Hermione and Black as close to her body as she could and allowing the shield to shrink around them. She just needed to buy time – Dumbledore should have noticed the Dementor presents by now. She just needed to hold on.

But it was getting so difficult. She was sweating with excursion and it was becoming difficulty to breathe as she pushed her magic to the very limited. Putting everything she had into keeping the shield up but it was beginning to falter as she ran out of magic to channel.

A Dementor stopped right at the edge of her weakening shield. A dead, slimy hand slid out from under the cloak. It made a gesture as though to sweep the Patronus aside.

"No - no -"

Aileen gasped. "He's innocent... expecto patronum -" but she didn't have the energy left and her arm felt like dead wait as it fell to her side.

She could feet them watching her, hear their rattling breath like an evil wind around her. The nearest Dementor seemed to be considering her. Then it raised both its rotting hands - and lowered its hood. Where there should have been eyes, there was only thin, gray scabbed skin, stretched blankly over empty sockets. But there was a mouth... a gaping, shapeless hole, sucking the air with the sound of a death rattle.

She had to fight. She could not give in. She had a little brother she said she was going to meet. She had friends that needed to be protected. Her big brother, he said he would visit soon. "Expecto patronum." Aileen managed one final time and a weak shield appeared around them. But it was nothing compared to what she original had conjured. And the Dementor swept it aside for a second time.

A pair of strong, clammy hands suddenly attached themselves around Aileen's neck. They were forcing her face upward... She could feel its breath... It was going to get rid of her first... She could feel its putrid breath... Her mother was screaming in her ears... She was going to be the last thing she ever heard –

And then, through the fog that was drowning her, she thought she saw a silvery light growing brighter and brighter... She felt herself fall forward onto the grass... Facedown, too weak to move, sick and shaking, Aileen opened her eyes. The Dementor must have released her. The blinding light was illuminating the grass around her...The screaming had stopped, the cold was ebbing away...

Something was driving the Dementors back... It was circling around her and Sirius and Hermione... They were leaving... The air was warm again...

With every ounce of strength she could muster, Aileen raised her head a few inches and saw an animal amid the light, galloping away across the lake... Eyes blurred with sweat, Aileen tried to make out what it was... It was as pure as a unicorn... Fighting to stay conscious, Aileen watched it canter to a halt as it reached the opposite shore. For a moment, Aileen saw, by its brightness, somebody welcoming it back... raising her hand to pat it...

"Impossible…" was Aileen's last thought as the last of her strength left her, and her head hit the ground as she fainted.

Word count: 7,659

Copied: 3,575

Edited: 12/09/2017


	24. Chapter 24: Conclusions Edited

Okay, lets start with: I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER. I'm just happily playing in JK's sand box. I DON'T OWN PERCY JACKSON either. I'm only allowed to play on the swing sets (pouts).

So, the next thing on my list of things to put on the top of this story: I've used a lot of the book structure of the first four years. By this I mean Aileen will be face a troll, save a dragon, go down the third floor, be blamed for opening the chamber, reveal her parseltongue abilities in the dueling club, save Ginny and kill the basilisk, and confront Sirius at the end of third year. Aileen will also be entered into the goblet, however she will be complete the tasks completely differently to Harry. If you don't like stories that do this then this isn't the story for you. Although I divert most majorly from the story line after book four, there are points through the first four years were Aileen dose something that Harry would never do because that is the way I've portrayed my character.

And finally, I have heavily edited the first twenty four chapters. You need to re-read the entire story to understand what happens after that point because it all ties together. By heavily edited, I mean nearly 40% of my story has completely been re-written. There is better characterization, more realistic sword skills and a little bit more on the emotional explanation of my character.

* * *

Chapter 24: Conclusion

"Shocking business... shocking... miracle none of them died... never heard the like... by thunder, it was lucky you were there, Snape..."

"Thank you, Minister."

"Order of Merlin, SecondClass, I'd say. First Class, if I can wangle it!"

"Thank you very much indeed, Minister."

Aileenlay listening with her eyes shutand her breathing even. Her mind was foggy but she recognised the smell of the room she was in as belonging to the Hospital Wing. Her limbs felt like lead;and she could feel the piecing cold still lingering after being exposed to the Dementors for far too long. It was sad to know that she had been exposed to them enough that she could recognise the feeling after the fact. She hoped she never had such a close encounter with them again.

"What amazes me most is the behaviour of the Dementors... you've really no idea what made them retreat, Snape?"

"No, Minister, the Dementors were all fleeing the area when I came too." Snape's silky voice responded, a note of exasperation creeping in like he had repeated himself several times.

"Extraordinary. And yet Black, and Aileen, and the girl -"

"All unconscious by the time I reached them. I bound and gagged Black, naturally, conjured stretchers, and brought them all straight back to the castle."

Aileen slowly opened her eyes, allowing them to adjust to the light. Her world was the normal blur that Aileen had grown used to seeing before Madam Pomfrey had obtained glasses for her. Which meant they had probably taken them off when she arrived in her care.

Madam Pomfrey was tending to Ron at the other end of the ward, and was stood with her back to where Aileen and Hermione were lying close to the doors which were slightly open, allowing sound to travel into the room. Aileen turned her head to look at Hermione who was lying as still as she could, her eyes wide opened as she stared at the doors to the hospital wing.

Aileen shifted, pulling herself into a sitting position so that she could locate her glasses. This action drew Madam Pomfrey's attention as she came striding briskly up the ward to Aileen's bed. On the way over, she picked up a basket that was resting on the tray at the bottom of one of the beds. When she came closer Aileen was able to identify the largest block of chocolate she had ever seen since the basket. It seemed that Madam Pomfrey had decided to be extra-prepared when she realised that the Dementors had started getting on the grounds. There were chip marks on the boulder of chocolate like she had already chiselled some of and giving it to patients.

"Ah, you're awake!" Madam Pomfrey said happily, as she broke apart some of the chocolate with a hammer.

"How's Ron?" Aileen and Hermione asked together as Hermione moved into a sitting position as well and Aileen grabbed her glasses.

"He'll live," said Madam Pomfrey grimly. "As for you two, you'll be staying here until I'm satisfied you're - Potter, what do you think you're doing?"

Aileen slowly swung her legs of the bed, grabbing her wand. Pomfrey had not taken her dagger from her yet. Once she was sure that her body could handle the strain of movement and that her magical core had begun resorting to more healthy levels she answered Madam Pomfrey's questions.

"I need to see the headmaster."

"Potter," said Madam Pomfrey soothingly, "it's all right. They've got Black. He's locked away upstairs. The Dementors will be performing the kiss any moment now -"

"WHAT?"

Aileen demanded loudly, jumping from her bed and ignoring the mild bout of dizziness. It seemed Hermione had done the same, and their combined shout of shock had drew the attention of the minister and Professor Snape because they entered the ward.

"Aileen, Aileen, what's this?" said Fudge, looking agitated. "You should be in bed - has she had any chocolate?" he asked Madam Pomfrey anxiously.

"Minister," Aileen said, striding forward and ignoring any of the lingering effects from the Dementors and her near magical exhaustion. She would rest when she knew her godfather was safe. "I have appealed the innocents of one being to you today and you still sentenced him to death. Now I appeal to you again. Sirius Black is innocent."

But Fudge was shaking his head with a small smile on his face. "Aileen, Aileen, you're veryconfused, you've been through a dreadful ordeal, lie back down, now, we've got everything under control..."

"You're a fool Minister." Aileen snapped cutting him off.

Snape raised an eyebrow at her, unimpressed with the way she was addressing the Minister but he remained silent remembering the way she had acted in the shack, perhaps he had allowed his anger to cloud his judgement and he should have listened – however there was nothing he could do about that now other than keep quiet.

"I've looked into the history of Sirius Black. When he was originally sentenced he wasn't given a trial. Which means that you threw Heir Black, now Lord Black, into Azkaban without a trial. When he broke out of Azkaban he could have easily located and killed me, but he didn't. When he came into the Gryffindor Common room he could have easily killed me. When I fell from my broom he could have let me die but instead he slowed my momentum - saving my life."

Aileen listed just a few of the instances in which Sirius could have taken her life. She had guessed that he had been the one to save her life on the Quidditch pitch since no one else had done so. He could have easily stolen Ginny's wand in the chaos, saved her life and then returned the wand before running from the area as a dog before he was spotted. His need to look after her probably helped to temporarily overrule his ingrained reaction to the Dementors. It seemed some of her words had started to get through to Snape, who was giving her a contemplating look now that her words were settling into his brain instead of just being completely ignored like they had been in the shack.

"And again tonight he had hundreds of opportunities to kill not only me but my friends. Instead he wanted me to listen. So that he could prove his innocents and he did. He showed me that Peter Pettigrew was alive – someone everyone believed to have died. On the way back up to the castle so that we could hand you Pettigrew, a werewolf appeared on the grounds and Sirius was forced to deal with it otherwise myself, Hermione, Ron and Professor Snape would have all been at the very least infected. He saved all of us without any thought to his own safety. Pettigrew attacked Ron before he could be stopped but then transformed into a rat. He escaped and I was forced to fight of over a hundred Dementors because _you_ ," Aileen practically hissed the last word as she stepped even closer to the Minister, "ordered the kiss on sight. Which if they had gone through with the kiss they were attempting to perform on me and Sirius Black, you would have been in breach of the law because Sirius Black has not been legally convicted of a crime and nor had I."

"We would not have thrown an innocent man into Azkaban. He was given a trial and there are plenty of witness's confirming the death of Pettigrew. You are simply confused my dear…" the Minister began again, but his face was pale and his eyes were darting around.

"I will willing give up memory of this night if you do not believe. And if you continue with this cause of action – if you give my Godfather the Kiss – I will bring the entire weight of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter and the weight of the Most Ancient and Noble house of Black, down on you. I will have you removed from the Ministry and by the gods I will see justice done." Aileen said, she was beyond furious. How had this idiotic, moron of a man, made it to Minister?

"Minister! Professor!" said Madam Pomfrey angrily. "I must insist that you leave. Potter is my patient, and she should not be distressed!"

"Madam, I'm not distressed," Aileen informed her before turning back to the Minister. "Your choice minister. Make it quickly." Aileen then took the piece of chocolate that Madam Pomfrey was holding in her hand and walked back to her bed as the minister floundered for a moment.

"Black is a criminal and the Wizagnmont has given their order," he said, trying to sound brave and confident but it came out weak. He then turned and fled the Hospital Wing.

The door opened again. It was Dumbledore. Aileen finished the last of the chocolate she had taken and stood up once more.

"Headmaster, have you spoken with Sirius yet?" Aileen asked. She knew that he would not let Black be kissed so easily. That he would at least listen to him.

"For heaven's sake!" said Madam Pomfrey hysterically; she knew that Aileen could look after herself but she didn't like it when others interfered with the healing of her patients. "Is this a hospital wing or not? Headmaster, I must insist -"

"My apologies, Poppy, but I need a word with Miss Potter and Miss Granger," said Dumbledore calmly. "I have just been talking to Sirius Black -"

"And have you been told the same tale as the children?" Snape asked, almost sarcastically. "Without any evidence to support their claims of Pettigrew being alive."

"That, indeed, is Black's story," said Dumbledore,surveyingSnape closely through his half-moon spectacles.

"Peter Pettigrew was not in the Shrieking Shack, nor did I see any sign of him on the grounds." Snape informed the headmaster, his voice tight with controlled anger.

"That was because you were knocked out, Professor!" said Hermione earnestly.

"If you had listened instead of allowing your anger to cloud your mind then you would have seen the evidence that Sirius Black was innocent of the crimes he had been thrown in Azkaban for." Aileen agreed with Hermione, causing Snape's eyes to narrow in anger.

"I would like to speak to Aileen and Hermione alone," said Dumbledore abruptly. "Severus, Poppy - please leave us."

"Headmaster!" sputtered Madam Pomfrey. "They need treatment, they need rest -"

"This cannot wait," said Dumbledore. "I must insist."

Madam Pomfrey pursed her lips and strode away into her office at the end of the ward, slamming the door behind her.

Snape appeared to stare at Dumbledore assessing, trying to understand the motives behind his actions. He had known Dumbledore relatively well for nearly twelve years, and he had gotten quite good at guessing the man's motives. But Severus could admit – if only to himself – that in this case he was blinded by his anger. Over the last three years, he had acknowledged that Potter wasn't a carbon copy of her father, but Sirius Black had tried to kill him without any remorse. Had made his Hogwarts years hell and from what he had heard in the shack, did not regret his actions even now. This was making his view of the situation clouded and he couldn't see the motives for having Sirius Black alive and free.

Dumbledore started back at Snape unblinkingly before the younger man nodded his assent and left the hospital wing. Obviously deciding that he didn't want to be involved any more than he already was. With the hospital wing empty, Dumbledore turned to his young students.

"It is your turn to listen, and I beg you will not interrupt me, because there is very little time," Dumbledoresaid quietlybefore either of them could say anything. "There is not a shred of proof to support Black's story, except your word - and the word of two thirteen-year-old witches will not convince anybody. A street full of eyewitnesses swore they saw Sirius murder Pettigrew. I myself gave evidence to the Ministry that Sirius had been the Potters' Secret-Keeper. Evidence that I now regret giving because it seemed they tricked even me."

"Professor Lupin can tell you, or I can give my memories." Aileen proposed thinking of the Wil. If she could give the ministry reasonable doubt, give her and the goblins time to get the information they need. Make the auras open Sirius case and realise how wrong they were – Aileen was sure they could find more evidence to add to the doubt. Then there was the fact that truth serum could be used on Sirius's request at a trial.

"Professor Lupin is currently deep in the forest, unable to tell anyone anything. By the time he is human again, it will be too late, Sirius will be worse than dead. I might add that werewolves are so mistrusted by most of our kind that his support will count for very little and the fact that he and Sirius are old friends..." Dumbledore shook his slightly before getting back on track with what he wanted to say.

"Sirius has not acted like an innocent man. The attack on the Fat Lady - entering Gryffindor Tower with a knife - without Pettigrew, alive or dead, we have no chance of overturning Sirius's sentence."

"But you believe us." Aileen said confidently.

"Yes, I do," said Dumbledore quietly. "But I have no power to make other men see the truth, or to overrule the Minister of Magic... What we need," said Dumbledore slowly, and his light blue eyes moved from Aileen to Hermione, "is more time."

"But -" Hermione began. And then her eyes became very round. "OH!"

"Now, pay attention," said Dumbledore, speaking very low, and very clearly. "Sirius is locked in Professor Flitwick's office on the seventh floor. Thirteenth window from the right of the West Tower. If all goes well, you will be able to save more than one innocent life tonight. But remember this, both of you: you must not be seen. Miss Granger, you know the law - you know what is at stake...You - must - not - be - seen."

Dumbledore had turned on his heel and looked back as he reached the door. "I am going to lock you in. It is -" he consulted his watch, "five minutes to midnight. Miss Granger, three turns should do it. Good luck."

Aileen turned back to Hermione to see that she was fumbling with the neck of her robes, pulling from beneath them a very long, very fine gold chain.

"Aileen, come here," she said urgently. "Quick!" Aileen did as she ordered, trusting her friend knew what she was doing and wasn't about to harm her. When she was close enough, Hermione threw the long chain around her neck as well.

"Ready?" Hermione asked breathlessly. Aileen didn't know what Hermione was going on about, or what she needed to be ready for, but Hermione didn't wait for her response anyway. She turned the hourglass over three times.

The dark ward dissolved. Aileen had the sensation that she was flying very fast, backward. A blur of colours and shapes rushed past her, her ears were pounding –

And then she felt solid ground beneath her feet, and everything came into focus again –

She was standing next to Hermione in the deserted entrance hall and a stream of golden sunlight was falling across the paved floor from the open front doors.

"In here!" Hermione seized Aileen's arm and dragged her across the hall to the door of a broom closet; she opened it, pushed her inside among the buckets and mops, then slammed the door behind them.

"Hermione, what happened?" Aileen demanded once she had taken a deep calming breath. She trusted, Hermione. She reminded herself of this fundamental fact while she waited for her friend to explain what exactly just happened. Now was not the time to panic – especially not about the fact that they were in a dark, small enclosed space that was a little too close of a reminder of her cupboard which she hadn't expected to be in.

"We've gone back in time," Hermione whispered, lifting the chain off Aileen's neck in the darkness. "Three hours back..."

"This is how you've been getting to lessons all year." Aileen muttered in realisation. She had figured Hermione had been doing some kind of time travel, but she hadn't known how. Well, now she did and she wished her friend her told her sooner because it would have made looking after her health much easier because she would have known how much Hermione was going back each day.

"Professor McGonagall made me swear I wouldn't tell anyone. She had to write all sorts of letters to the Ministry of Magic so I could have a Time-Turner. She had to tell them that I was a model student, and that I'd never, ever use it for anything except my studies... I've been turning it back so I could do hours over again, that's how I've been doing several lessons at once, see? But...Aileen, I don't understand what Dumbledore wants us to do. Why did he tell us to go back three hours? How's that going to help Sirius?"

"We need to save Buckbeak, before moving on to save Sirius, preferably without being seen or being late back to the infirmary." Aileen said after a moment of careful thinking. She was used to thinking outside the box when fighting monsters, it didn't take a genius to apply that logic and Dumbledore's words to the current situation and figure out a plan. The only thing she currently had a probable with was the fact THEY HAD GONE BACK IN TIME.

"But - how will that help Sirius?" Hermione asked worrying her lip between her teeth.

"Dumbledore told us where the window is - the window of Flitwick's office. Where they've got Sirius locked up. We've got to fly Buckbeak up to the window and rescue Sirius. Sirius can escape on Buckbeak: they can escape together." Aileen explained her thought process to Hermione.

From what Aileen could see of Hermione's face, she looked terrified. "If we manage that without being seen, it'll be a miracle!"

"My cloak was in my robes," Aileen said frowning. Madam Pomfrey had taken her out of her robes and left her in only her normal cloths. "But we've got to try," Aileen pressed her ear to the door, listening closely to the sounds of the entrance hall. When she was sure that no one would see them she motioned with her hand for Hermione to follow and made her way outside.

The entrance hall was deserted. As quietly and quickly as they could, they darted out of the closet and down the stone steps. The shadows were already lengthening, the tops of the trees in the Forbidden Forest gilded once more with gold.

"If anyone's looking out of the window -" Hermione squeaked, looking up at the castle behind them.

"I don't know how Professor Lupin didn't see us on the map," Aileen muttered in return as her eyes darted around the grounds, trying to plan the best path for them to take that would reduce the chances of them being seen. She was back in her element – danger, uncertainty and fear. She hated how such situations made her calm and rational. It should make her illogical and riddled with fear, but she was different and there was nothing she could do about it other than make use of this odd mind set. "We're going to have to run, reduce the chance of use being seen and increase the chance of catching up with our passed selves. If we go around the greenhouses, and then the edge of the forest to get to Hagrid's hut, we shouldn't be seen."

"Okay, but we need to keep out of sight of Hagrid's front door, or we'll see us! We must be nearly at Hagrid's by now!" Hermione said in worry as she ringed her hands nervously. She had never taken such a risk all year – making sure to turn back when she knew she wasn't in the same part of the castle as herself.

Aileen took off at a sprint, Hermione following closely behind her. When they reached the greenhouses, the paused for a moment to make sure the cost was clear for the next part of their run. Then they set of across the open grounds to the forbidden forest – making sure to give the Willow a wide berth since they had already had one close encounter with it that day.

Safe in the shadows of the trees, Aileen turned around; seconds later, Hermione arrived beside her, panting.

"Right," she gasped. "We need to sneak over to Hagrid's... Keep out of sight, Aileen..."

They made their way silently through the trees, keeping to the very edge of the forest. Then, as they glimpsed the front of Hagrid's house, they heard a knock upon his door. They moved quickly behind a wide oak trunk and peered out from either side. Hagrid had appeared in his doorway, shaking and white, looking around to see who had knocked. And Aileen heard her own voice.

 _"It's us. We're wearing the Invisibility Cloak. Let us in and we can take it off."_

 _"Yeh shouldn've come!" Hagrid whispered. He stood back, then shut the door quickly._

"This is the weirdest thing we've ever done," Aileen informed her friend. It was just a day of weirds.

"Let's move along a bit," Hermione whispered. "We need to get nearer to Buckbeak!"

They crept through the trees until they saw the nervous Hippogriff, tethered to the fence around Hagrid's pumpkin patch.

"If we steal him now, those Committee people will think Hagrid set him free! We've got to wait until they've seen he's tied outside!"

"That's going to give us about sixty seconds," said

Aileen, her eyes scanning for something that might help them. This was starting to seem impossible.

"I'm going to find Scabbers in a moment -" Hermione whispered. Sure enough, a few minutes later, they heard Hermione's shriek of surprise.

Aileen looked over to the front of the school and sawthat Dumbledore, Fudge, the old Committee member, and Macnair the executioner were coming down the steps.

"We're about to come out!" Hermione breathed like she had been clocking their past selves despite the fact that none of them had looked at the clock during their first go through.

And sure enough, moments later, Hagrid's back door opened, and Aileen saw herself, Ron, and Hermione walking out of it with Hagrid. It was, without a doubt, the strangest sensation of her life, standing behind the tree, and watching herself in the pumpkin patch.

 _"It's Okay, Beaky, it's okay..." Hagrid said to Buckbeak. Then he turned to_ _Aileen_ _, Ron, and Hermione. "Go on. Get goin'."_

 _"We'll find away, Buckbeak won't die this night."_ Past-Aileen promised her eyes glowing fiercely asthe Hermione in the pumpkin patch threw the cloak over them. Future Aileen was glade that she was going to be able to keep her promise to Hagrid and see Buckbeak safe.

 _"Go quick. Don' listen..."_

There was a knock on Hagrid's front door. The execution party had arrived. Hagrid turned, around and headed back into his cabin, leaving the back door ajar. Aileen watched the grass flatten in patches all around the cabin and heard three pairs of feet retreating. She, Ron, and Hermione had gone... but the Aileen and Hermione hidden in the trees could now hear what was happening inside the cabin through the back door.

"Where is the beast?" came the cold voice of Macnair.

"Out - outside," Hagrid croaked.

Aileen pulled her head out of sight as Macnair's face appeared at Hagrid's window, staring out at Buckbeak. Then they heard Fudge.

"We - er - have to read you the official notice of execution, Hagrid. I'll make it quick. And then you and Macnair need to sign it. Macnair, you're supposed to listen too, that's procedure -"

Macnair's face vanished from the window. It was now or never.

"Wait here," Aileen whispered to Hermione. "I'll do it."

As Fudge's voice started again, Aileen darted out from behind her tree, vaulted the fence into the pumpkin patch, and approached Buckbeak.

"It is the decision of the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures that the Hippogriff Buckbeak, hereafter called the condemned, shall he executed on the sixth of June at sundown -"

Careful not to blink,

Aileen stared up into Buckbeak's fierce orange eyes once more and bowed. Buckbeak sank to his scaly knees and then stood up again. Aileen quickly untied the hippogriff and started to gently tug him out of the way. Fortunately, all the time she had spent sat next to the beast meant that he was a bit more docile and responsive to her in comparison to Hermione.

"... sentenced to execution by beheading, to be carried out by the Committee's appointed executioner, Walden Macnair..."

"Come on, Buckbeak," Aileenmurmuredas they started to make progress, "come on, we're going to help you. Quietly... quietly..."

"... as witnessed below. Hagrid, you sign here..."

"Well, let's get this over with," said the reedy voice of the Committee member from inside Hagrid's cabin. "Hagrid, perhaps it will be better if you stay inside -"

"No, I - I wan' ter be with him... I don' wan' him ter be alone -"

Footsteps echoed from within the cabin, Aileen wasn't quite hidden in the forest yet.

"One moment, please, Macnair," came Dumbledore's voice. "You need to sign too." The footsteps stopped.

Hermione's white face was sticking out from behind a tree.

"Aileen, hurry!" she mouthed.

Aileen could still hear Dumbledore's voice talking from within the cabin. Aileen wasn't sure how, but it was almost like Dumbledore knew they needed him to stall for time. Perhaps the wards had alerted him to the fact that there were two of them on the grounds, or he had guessed that Aileen would try something to free Buckbeak since she disagreed with an innocent life being taken.

They had reached the trees...Aileen looked over her shoulder; they were now blocked from sight; they couldn't see Hagrid's garden at all.

"Stop!" she whispered to Hermione. "They might hear us."

Hagrid's back door had opened with a bang. Aileen, Hermione, and Buckbeak stood quite still; even the Hippogriff seemed to be listening intently. Silence... then –

"Where is it?" said the reedy voice of the Committee member. "Where is the beast?"

"It was tied here!" said the executioner furiously. "I saw it! Just here!"

"How extraordinary," said Dumbledore. There was a note of amusement in his voice.

"Beaky!" said Hagrid huskily.

There was a swishing noise, and the thud of an axe. The executioner seemed to have swung it into the fence in anger. And then came the howling, and this time they could hear Hagrid's words through his sobs.

"Gone! Gone! Bless his little beak, he's gone! Musta pulled himself free! Beaky, yeh clever boy!"

Buckbeak started to strain against the rope, trying to get back to Hagrid. Aileen and Hermione tightened their grip and Aileen placed a calming hand on the hippogriff's beak. Praying that the horse part of the beast recognises that she needed him to stay and be quite.

"Someone untied him!" the executioner was snarling. "We should search the grounds, the forest."

"Macnair, if Buckbeak has indeed been stolen, do you really think the thief will have led him away on foot?" said Dumbledore, still sounding amused. "Search the skies, if you will... Hagrid, I could do with a cup of tea. Or a large brandy."

"O' - o' course, Professor," said Hagrid, who sounded weak with happiness. "Come in, come in..."

Aileen and Hermione listened closely. They heard footsteps, the soft cursing of the executioner, the snap of the door, and then silence once more.

"We'll have to hide in here," Hermione finally said, looking quite shaken. "We need to wait until they've gone back to the castle. Then we wait until it's safe to fly Buckbeak up to Sirius's window. He won't be there for another couple of hours... Oh, this is going to be difficult..."

She looked nervously over her shoulder into the depths of the forest. The sun was setting now. Beyond her first (and last) detention, Hermione had never been in the Forbidden Forest before. But Aileen had, she had come into the forest on several occasions, learning the layout as best she could just encase she needed to leave Hogwarts via the wood – or activate the forest defence that she had learnt about from her reading of the Wards. The only way to activate the forest defence is if you have an intimate knowledge of the woods, since she didn't yet have that knowledge she couldn't activate it but she was determined to have it down by her fifth year.

"We're going to have to move," said Aileen, running the events of the night through her head, coming up with a more solid plan to meet the goals she had listed when in that cupboard. Ron was the strategists of the group, but Aileen wasn't half-bad at coming up with plans while in the moment. "We've got to be able to see the Whomping Willow, or we won't know what's going on."

"Okay," said Hermione, getting a firmer grip on Buckbeak's rope. "But we've got to keep out of sight, Aileen, remember..."

They moved around the edge of the forest, darkness falling thickly around them, until they were hidden behind a clump of trees through which they could make out the Willow.

"There's Ron!" said Aileen suddenly.

A dark figure was sprinting across the lawn and its shout echoed through the still night air.

 _"Get away from him - get away - Scabbers, come here -"_

And then they saw two more figures materialize out of nowhere. Aileen watched herself and Hermione chasing after Ron. It was one of the weirdest things she had ever done Aileen reiterated in her head as she decided that she never wanted to see herself from a different perspective again. Then she saw Ron dive.

 _"Gotcha! Get off, you stinking cat -"_

"There's Sirius!" said Aileen. The great shape of the dog had bounded out from the roots of the Willow, he had most likely gone there every full moon in the hopes of meeting Lupin, helping him out like he had done when they were teenagers. But with the wolfsbane potion, Lupin didn't need to go to the shack to make sure he was safe. He could stay curled up in his office. They saw him bowl Aileen over, then seize on...

"Looks even worse from here, doesn't it?" said Aileen, watching the dog pulling Ron into the roots.

The Whomping Willow was creaking and lashing out with its lower branches; they could see themselves darting here and there, trying to reach the trunk. And then the tree froze.

"That was Crookshanks pressing the knot," said Hermione.

"And there we go..." Aileen muttered. "We're in."

The moment they disappeared, the tree began to move again. Seconds later, they heard footsteps quite close by. Dumbledore, Macnair, Fudge, and the old Committee member were making their way up to the castle.

"Right after we'd gone down into the passage!" said Hermione. "If only Dumbledore had come with us..."

"Macnair and Fudge would've come too," Aileen pointed out bitterly. Although she trusted Dumbledore – to an extent – she didn't trust any other adults. She especially didn't trust ministry officals such as Fudge who had proven themselves to be spineless and in someone else's pocket. "I doubt the outcome would have been much different."

They watched the four men climb the castle steps and disappear from view. For a few minutes the scene was deserted. Then –

"Here comes Lupin!" said Aileen as they saw another figure sprinting down the stone steps and halting toward the Willow.

They watched Lupin seize a broken branch from the ground and prod the knot on the trunk. The tree stopped fighting, and Lupin, too, disappeared into the gap in its roots.

Just then, they heard a burst of song. It was Hagrid, making his way up to the castle, singing at the top of his voice, and weaving slightly as he walked. A large bottle was swinging from his hands.

"No, Buckbeak!"

The Hippogriff was making frantic attempts to get to Hagrid again; Aileen seized his rope too, straining to hold Buckbeak back. They watched Hagrid meander tipsily up to the castle. He was gone. Buckbeak stopped fighting to get away. His head drooped sadly.

"I'm sorry my friend but Hagrid would much rather you live…" Aileen said, gently running her hand through the feathers on his back. "I'll tell him you're alive and well – and maybe in a few years you can see him again."

Barely two minutes later, the castle doors flew open yet again, and Snape came charging out of them, running toward the Willow.

Snape seized the branch Lupin had used to freeze the tree, prodded the knot, and vanished from view as he cast an invisibility charm around himself.

"So that's it," said Hermione quietly. "We're all down there... and now we've just got to wait until we come back up again..."

She took the end of Buckbeak's rope and tied it securely around the nearest tree, then sat down on the dry ground, arms around her knees.

"Aileen, there's something I don't understand... Why didn't the Dementors get Sirius? I remember them coming, and then I think I passed out... there were so many of them..."

Aileen took a seat next to her friend as she tried to order her thoughts so what she said didn't make her seem completely crazy. After a moment, she explained how the Dementors had surrounded them and her patronus failed. How the Dementors was going to get rid of Aileen first before taking Sirius. However they were stopped by the silver light of a patronus which was powerful enough to end the entire horde into retreat.

Hermione's mouth was slightly open by the time Aileen had finished.

"But what was it?"

"There's only one thing it could have been, to make the Dementors go," said Aileen. "A corporal Patronus. A powerful one."

"But who conjured it?"

Aileen remained silently. She had seen the person on the other side of the bank, but she had been barely conscious and her eye's blurry.

"Didn't you see what they looked like?" said Hermione eagerly. "Was it one of the teachers?"

"No, couldn't have been. Only Dumbledore, Lupin and McGonagall can cast a patronus that I know off and it wasn't them." Aileen replied softly.

"But it must have been a really powerful wizard, to drive all those Dementors away... If the Patronus was shining so brightly, didn't it light him up? Couldn't you see -?"

"I was barely conscious." Aileen replied, really not wanting to answer this question. Sometimes Hermione's love of knowledge, her self-righteous belief in authority and her general opinion that she's right, really annoyed her. But she had problems with some of Ron's attributes as well. No one was perfect, and she learnt to live with her friend's faults.

The leaves overhead rustled faintly in the breeze. The moon drifted in and out of sight behind the shifting clouds. Hermione sat with her face turned toward the Willow, waiting.

And then, at last, after over an hour had drifted past...

"Here we come!" Hermione whispered.

She and Aileen got to their feet. Buckbeak raised his head. They saw Lupin, Ron, and Pettigrew clambering awkwardly out of the hole in the roots. Then came Hermione... then the unconscious Snape, drifting weirdly upward. Next came Aileen and Sirius. They all began to walk toward the castle.

"Hermione…" Aileen began to say, but was interrupted.

"Aileen," Hermione muttered, "we've got to stay put. We mustn't be seen. There's nothing we can do..."

"Hermione we need to move." Aileen snapped, cutting her off as she swiftly untied Buckbeak. She knew they mustn't be seen, and she didn't know why Hermione seemed to be under the impression that Aileen was going to act irrational due to some kind of emotional urge. In the three years Hermione had known her, she had never seen Aileen act foolishly out of emotion, even the few times her anger had gotten the best of her and she had ranted, it was generally done in such a way as to get her point and purpose across. Aileen was very aware that she was emotionally repressed because she rarely let herself express her emotions – particularly her more happy emotions – because she was taught from an early age to hide them. Not even when she was interacting with her friends or dorm mates did she allow herself to completely let go of the leash she held her emotions in because she didn't want to feel vulnerable.

Aileen shook her thoughts away, now really wasn't the time to be thinking about her emotions (or rather lack their off). The moon had reached its peak and Professor Lupin was beginning to transform.

"We mustn't -" Hermione tried to protest.

"Not to interfere! Lupin's going to run into the forest, right at us!" Aileen cut across her friend in frustration. Hermione had remembered the exact timing for them to leave Hagrid's hut, but she couldn't remember the direction that a werewolf had run!

Hermione gasped. "Quick!" she moaned, "Quick! Where are we going to go? Where are we going to hide? The Dementors will be coming any moment -"

"Back to Hagrid's!" Aileen once again cut across Hermione's panic. The girl really wasn't very good under pressure – she had been the same in their first year with the troll and the third floor. "It's empty now - come on!"

They ran as fast as they could, Buckbeak cantering along behind them. They could hear the werewolf howling behind them...

The cabin was in sight; Aileen skidded to the door, wrenched it open, and Hermione and Buckbeak flashed past her; Aileen threw herself in after them and bolted the door. Fang the boarhound barked loudly.

"Shh, Fang, it's us!" said Hermione, hurrying over and scratching his ears to quieten him. "That was really close!" she said to Aileen.

"Yeah..."

Aileen was looking out of the window. It was much harder to see what was going on from here. Buckbeak seemed very happy to find himself back inside Hagrid's house. He lay down in front of the fire, folded his wings contentedly, and seemed ready for a good nap.

"I think I'd better go outside again, you know," said Aileen slowly. "I can't see what's going on - we won't know when it's time -"

Hermione looked up. Her expression was suspicious.

"I'm not going to try and interfere," Aileen promised. "But if we don't see what's going on, how're we going to know when it's time to rescue Sirius?"

"Well... okay, then... I'll wait here with Buckbeak... but Aileen, be careful - there's a werewolf out there - and the Dementors."

Aileen stepped outside again and edged around the cabin. She could hear yelping in the distance. That meant the Dementors were closing in on Sirius. She and Hermione would be running to him any moment...

For a fraction of a second she stood, irresolute, in front of Hagrid's door. _You must not be seen_. But she didn't want to be seen. She wanted to do the seeing... She had to know...

And there were the Dementors. They were emerging out of the darkness from every direction, gliding around the edges of the lake... They were moving away from where Aileen stood, to the opposite bank... She wouldn't have to get near them...

Aileen moved swiftly towards the lake and hid behind a bush. Surrounded in darkness so that none could see her but she could see everything happening. On the opposite bank, she could see tiny glimmers of silver - her own attempts at a Patronus –

But then it went out. Whoever saved her should have arrived by now. But she was the only one there and the circle of Dementors were closing in. One of them was lowering its hood. Aileen on the other bank tried one last time to cast a patronus that was quickly cast aside.

It was time for the rescuer to appear - but no one was coming to help this time –

And then it hit her - she understood.

Aileen flung herself out from behind the bush and pulled out her wand.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" she yelled.

And out of the end of her wand burst, not a shapeless cloud of mist, but a blinding, dazzling, silver animal. It galloped silently away from her, across the black surface of the lake. She saw it lower its head and charge at the swarming Dementors... Now it was galloping around and around the black shapes on the ground, and the Dementors were falling back, scattering, retreating into the darkness... They were gone.

The Patronus turned. It was cantering back toward Aileen across the still surface of the water. It wasn't a horse. It wasn't a unicorn, either. It was a stag. It was shining brightly as the moon above ... it was coming back to her...

It stopped on the bank. Its hooves made no mark on the soft ground as it stared at Aileen with its large, silver eyes. Slowly, it bowed its antlered head. And Aileen realized... "Prongs," she whispered.

But as her trembling fingertips stretched toward the creature, it vanished.

Aileen retreated behind her bush. Then, with a great leap of her heart, she heard hooves behind her. She whirled around and saw Hermione dashing toward her, dragging Buckbeak behind her.

"What did you do?" she said fiercely. "You said you were only going to keep a lookout!"

"I just saved all our lives..." said Aileen. "Get behind here behind this bush - I'll explain."

Hermione listened to what had just happened with her mouth open yet again.

"Did anyone see you?"

"Yes, haven't you been listening? I saw me but I didn't know it was me! It's okay!"

"Aileen, I can't believe it... You conjured up a Patronus that drove away all those Dementors! That's very, very advanced magic."

"I knew I could do it this time," said Aileen, "because I'd already done it... Does that make sense?"

"I don't know - Aileen, look at Snape!"

Together they peered around the bush at the other bank. Snape had regained consciousness. He was conjuring stretchers and lifting the limp forms of Aileen, Hermione, and Sirius onto them. A fourth stretcher, no doubt bearing Ron, was already floating at his side. Then, wand held out in front of him, he moved them away toward the castle.

"Right, it's nearly time," said Hermione tensely, looking at her watch. "We've got about forty-five minutes until Dumbledore locks the door to the hospital wing. We've got to rescue Sirius and get back into the ward before anybody realizes we're missing..."

They waited, watching the moving clouds reflected in the lake, while the bush next to them whispered in the breeze. Buckbeak, bored, was ferreting for worms again.

"Look!" Hermione whispered. "Who's that? Someone's coming back out of the castle!"

Aileen stared through the darkness. The man was hurrying across the grounds, toward one of the entrances. Something shiny glinted in his belt.

"Macnair!" said Aileen. "The executioner! He's gone to get the Dementors!" Aileen frowned at Buckbeak. Although he was large, it would be a very uncomfortable squeeze for her, Hermione and Sirius to be on him and Aileen really didn't like the idea of the amount of physical contact that would involve.

"Hermione, go back to the hospital wing, make sure the corridor is empty since there aren't any hiding spots along that part of the castle." Aileen turned to her friend and spoke seriously.

"But…" Hermione protested.

"No, Hermione listen to me. It's going to be hard enough fitting me and Sirius onto Buckbeak without falling off and I know you don't like heights. Besides, if you're at the hospital wing, it means you won't get in trouble if I'm late. I have the extra security of being the heir to house Potter and Black as well as being the girl-who-lived. I'm protect to an extent, while you aren't."

"Okay, good luck and don't be late." Hermione agreed, hugging Aileen before running back towards the castle.

Aileen turned her attention to Buckbeak, who was waiting patiently for her to do something. Just like the first Care lesson, Aileen pulled herself onto Buckbeak's back and positioned herself as comfortable as she could between his wings. Looping the rope over his neck, Aileen secured it to the collar to create improvised reins that would make it easier for her to direct the hippogriff compared to the last time she had done this.

Gentle nudging Buckbeak with her heels, Aileen encouraged him into the air and towards the castle. It took a couple of minutes of careful flying but Aileen was able to direct Buckbeak to the window of the office that Dumbledore said Sirius was locked in. Aileen pulled back on the rains, which caused Buckbeak to stop, rising and falling slightly with every beat of his wings.

"Alohamora!" Aileen casted, causing the window to prop open. Sirius's heat shot up as he stared at Aileen in shock for a moment. He leapt up from his chair and hurried over to the window. "Lift for Sirius Black?" Aileen said in amusement.

"How - how -?" said Sirius weakly, staring at the Hippogriff.

"I'll explain later. Come on, we don't have a lot of time before Macnair returns with the Dementors." Aileen said, offering Sirius a hand to help him out the window and onto Buckbeak's back.

Fortunately, Sirius was still enough on the thin side that he was able to fit through the window. It took only seconds for him to get onto Sirius's back and wrap his arms around Aileen to prevent himself from fulling off. Once he was ready, Aileen encouraged Buckbeak up to the astronomy tower which would make her return to the hospital wing easier due to the secret passage.

Buckbeak landed with a clatter on the battlements, and Aileen slid off him at once.

"Sirius, you'd better go, quick," Aileen ordered handing him the reins with one hand while pulling out the journals she kept on her person and handing it to Sirius. "They'll reach Flitwick's office any moment, they'll find out you're gone. That's a communication journal, its link to the one I have. Use it to contact me when you are somewhere safe."

Buckbeak pawed the ground, tossing his sharp head.

"What happened to the other two? Hermione and Ron?" Sirius croak.

"Ron's going to be okay, it was a clean break. He's still under Madam Pomfrey's care. Hermione's fine, she helped me rescue Buckbeak but I sent her back to the hospital wing because she didn't like heights." Aileen answered, a warmth filling her chest as she realised that Sirius cared enough about her to care for her friends. "Now please, go." Aileen finished softly, her eyes silently pleading with Sirius to escape.

But Sirius was still staring down at Aileen.

"How can I ever thank -"

"GO!" Aileen finally shouted, cutting the man off and getting the sense of urgency across.

Sirius wheeled Buckbeak around, facing the open sky. "We'll see each other again," he said. "You are truly your father's Daughter, Aileen..."

He squeezed Buckbeak's sides with his heels. Aileen jumped back as the enormous wings rose once more... The Hippogriff took off into the air...

"I'll contact you!" Aileen called after him before she turned and hurried back into the castle. Moving as quickly and quietly as she could back down to the hospital wing.

Hermione had found a small nook in the corridor by the door, and was stood looking anxiously around for Aileen. Aileen got there just in time to see Dumbledore beginning to leave through the doors, with his back to the present Hermione and Aileen. Hermione smiled in relief when Aileen joined her.

 _"I am going to lock you in,"_ Dumbledore told the past them. " _It is five minutes to midnight. Miss Granger, three turns should do it. Good luck."  
_  
Dumbledore backed out of the room, closed the door, and took out his wand to magically lock it.

"Headmaster," Aileen stopped him before he could. Dumbledore turned to them with a wide smile.

"Well?" he enquired quietly.

"They're both gone." Aileen reported.

Dumbledore beamed at them. "Well done. I think -" He listened intently for any sound within the hospital wing. "Yes, I think you've gone too - get inside - I'll lock you in -"

Aileen and Hermione slipped back inside the hospital wing. It was empty except for Ron, who was still lying motionless in the end bed. As the lock clicked behind them, Aileen and Hermione crept back to their ownbeds, Hermione tucking the Time-Turner back under her robes. A moment later, Madam Pomfrey came striding back out of her office.

"Did I hear the headmaster leaving? Am I allowed to look after my patients now?"

The three friends were released from the hospital the next day at noon. Hermione and Aileen had woken late due to their extended day the night before, and Ron was recovering from the spell damage. Luckily, they found the castle deserted since third years and up were spending the day in Hogesmead. Ron and Hermione decided they didn't want to go, instead they went to the Black Lake to site and talk. While Hermione was explaining to Ron what had happened, Aileen's thoughts drifted, trying to think of a way of getting her godfather free. She had gone through a lot of law books, and books on the Ancient and Nobel Houses. If she could contact the right person, there was a chance…

A shadow fell across them and they looked up to see a very bleary-eyed Hagrid, mopping his sweaty face with one of his tablecloth-sized handkerchiefs and beaming down at them.

"Know I shouldn' feel happy, after wha' happened las' night," he said. "I mean, Black escapin' again, an, everythin' - but guess what?"

"What?" they said, pretending to look curious.

"Beaky! He escaped! He's free! Bin celebratin' all night!"

"That's wonderful!" said Hermione, giving Ron a reproving look because he looked as though he was close to laughing.

"Yeah... can't've tied him up properly," said Hagrid, gazing happily out over the grounds. "I was worried this mornin', mind... thought he mighta met Professor Lupin on the grounds, but Lupin says he never ate anythin' las' night..."

"What?" said Aileen quickly, shocked out how casually Hagrid was referring to the fact that Lupin was a werewolf.

"Blimey, haven' yeh heard?" said Hagrid, his smile fading a little. He lowered his voice, even though there was nobody in sight. "Er - Snape told all the Slytherins this mornin'... Thought everyone'd know by now... Professor Lupin's a werewolf, see. An' he was loose on the grounds las' night... He's packin' now, o' course."

"He's packing?" said Aileen, alarmed. "Why?"

"Leavin', isn' he?" said Hagrid, looking surprised that Aileen had to ask. "Resigned firs' thing this mornin'. Says he can't risk it happenin again."

Aileen didn't say anything she simply jumped to her feet and ran back into the castle. Leaving her friends out on the grounds and staring after her in bewilderment. Not understanding the urgency in which she had run in.

Lupin's office door was open. He had already packed most of his things. The Grindylow's empty tank stood next to his battered old suitcase, which was open and nearly full. Lupin was bending over something on his desk and looked up only when Aileen knocked on the door. This was the second time in as many years that she had caught the defence teacher packing. At least Lupin waited until after the exam were finished.

"I saw you coming," said Lupin, smiling. He pointed to the parchment he had been poring over. It was the Marauder's Map.

"I just saw Hagrid," said Aileen not remotely winded despite the running she had just been doing. It always annoyed her friend's how she could run the length of the castle (up and down the stairs) and still look as put together as the she normally would. "And he said you'd resigned. It's not true, is it?"

"I'm afraid it is," said Lupin. He started opening his desk drawers and taking out the contents.

"Why?"Aileen ask bewildered. This man was probably the best defence teacher they had had so far. And she had learnt that he was a link to her parents, someone who could tell her stories of her mother and step-father and how they grew to love each other and eventually become the brave, loving parents who gave there life for her. No one else could tell her the stories she wanted to know except for Sirius and he was currently on the run from law enforcement and it wasn't the same as hearing the words in person, as opposed to written in a journal (which Sirius hadn't used yet). "The Ministry of Magic don't think you were helping Sirius, do they?"

Lupin crossed to the door and closed it behind Aileen.

"No. Professor Dumbledore managed to convince Fudge that I was trying to save your lives." He sighed. "That was the final straw for Severus. So he - er - accidentally let slip that I am a werewolf this morning at breakfast."

"You're not leaving just because of that!" said Aileen, still confused.

Lupin smiled wryly. "This time tomorrow, the owls will start arriving from parents... They will not want a werewolf teaching their children, Aileen. And after last night, I see their point. I could have bitten any of you... That must never happen again."

"You're the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher I've ever had!Last night was the first time you had forgotten your potion and it was under extenuating circumstances." Aileen protested. "Don't go!"

Lupin shook his head and didn't speak. He carried on emptying his drawers. "From what the headmaster told me this morning, you saved a lot of lives last night, Aileen. If I'm proud of anything I've done this year, it's how much you've learned... Tell me about your Patronus."

"How d'you know about that?"

"What else could have driven the Dementors back?" Lupin countered with a small smile at her.

Aileen relented and told Lupin what had happened. When she'd finished, Lupin was smiling again.

"Yes, your father was always a stag when he transformed," he said. "You guessed right... that's why we called him Prongs." Lupin threw his last few books into his case, closed the desk drawers, and turned to look at Aileen. "Here" He hesitated, then held out the Marauder's Map too. "I am no longer your teacher, so I don't feel guilty about giving you back this. It's no use to me, and I daresay you, Ron, and Hermione will find uses for it."

Aileentook the map and in turn gave Lupin one of her daries.

There was a knock on the door. Aileen placed the map in her pocket and turned to the door.

It was Professor Dumbledore. He didn't look surprised to see Aileen there.

"Your carriage is at the gates, Remus," he said.

"Thank You, Headmaster."

Lupin picked up his old suitcase and the empty Grindylow tank.

"Well - good-bye, Aileen," he said, smiling. "It has been a real pleasure teaching you. I feel sure we'll meet again sometime. Headmaster, there is no need to see me to the gates, I can manage..."

Aileen had the impression that Lupin wanted to leave as quickly as possible.

"Good-bye, then, Remus," said Dumbledore soberly. Lupin shifted the Grindylow tank slightly so that he and Dumbledore could shake hands. Then, with a final nod to Aileen and a swift smile, Lupin left the office.

"Professor Dumbledore," Aileen spoke after a moment of staring around at the empty office.

"Yes, my dear." He asked, closing the door obviously sensing that the topic of conversation was sensitive.

"Trelawney made a prediction yesterday, just before we went down to Hagrid's. She said Voldemort's servant was going to set out to return to him before midnight... She said the servant would help him come back to power." Aileen locked eyes with Dumbledore. "She was making an actually prediction, wasn't she?"

Dumbledore looked mildly impressed. "Do you know, Aileen, I think she might have been." he said thoughtfully. "Who'd have thought it? That brings her total of real predictions up to two. I should offer her a pay raise..."

There was silence in the office for a moment before Aileen spoke the next important question on her list. "What's happening with my living arrangement's, sir?"

Dumbledore closed his eyes, as though he was in pain. "I have been to examine the wards. It seems that over the years, they have warped and I can't take them down. The only way to remove you from the Dursley's without causing you pain is to put you with someone with your blood." He explained. "However, I have been to speak with the Dursleys and cast monitoring wards around the house. They can't harm you without me knowing about it immediately and they know this."

Aileen nodded thoughtfully, a plan cautiously forming in her mind about how to get her out of the Dursleys. Now she had all the information, she thought it might just work – but first she had some serious manoeuvring to do. "Thank you, sir."

Nobody at Hogwarts now knew the truth of what had happened the night that Sirius, Buckbeak, and Pettigrew had vanished except Aileen, Ron, Hermione, and Professor Dumbledore. As the end of term approached, Aileen heard many different theories about what had really happened, but none of them came close to the truth.

Malfoy was furious about Buckbeak. He was convinced that Hagrid had found a way of smuggling the Hippogriff to safety, and seemed outraged that he and his father had been outwitted by a gamekeeper.

Aileen spent the last week of term hauled up in the library despite the fact that the weather was perfect and the atmosphere was cheerful. She spent her time going through old laws that would help her in freeing Sirius. There was a couple that would work, but a certain set of circumstances needed to happen which meant that she needed to bide her time. When she wasn't in the library, she was writing to Sirius who she had started to get to know. He was happy to tell her stories of their time at Hogwarts, some of the things that happened during the war and she even learnt a little about Sirius' family (most of which he appeared to hate). Since Remus had joined Sirius, he rarely used his own diary to talk with her, preferring to be part of the conversation with Sirius (there had been much reselling for the quill from Aileen could gather).

At one point, Aileen summoned Dobby to her empty classroom and finalised the bond between them. When she had freed the elf, he had bonded to her without her knowledge so that he could stay alive. Aileen simple accepted that bone and then sent Dobby to help Sirius who had moved into his family's old home, which was apparently nearly uninhabitable.

The exam results came out on the last day of term. Aileen, Ron, and Hermione had passed every subject. Percy had got his top-grade N.E.W.T.s; Fred and George had passed at the level Aileen had asked of them. The twins said they would have a bank account opened over the holiday. Once they had done that Aileen could transfer some fund's other so that the boys could continue their experimenting. When they graduated she would put the down payment for the business, which would also help with the paperwork they would have to file at the ministry since they needed to have the initial investment and the show of interest before they would be allowed to open a business in Diagon. They were halfway there, with her investment and their business plan (which was very impressive).

Gryffindor House, meanwhile, largely thanks to their spectacular performance in the Quidditch Cup, had won the House championship for the third year running. This meant that the end of term feast took place amid decorations of scarlet and gold, and that the Gryffindor table was the noisiest of the lot, as everybody celebrated.

As the Hogwarts Express pulled out of the station the next morning, Hermione gave Aileen and Ron some surprising, but pleasing, news.

"I went to see Professor McGonagall this morning, just before breakfast. I've decided to drop Muggle Studies and officially drop divination."

"But you passed your exam with three hundred and twenty percent!" said Ron.

"I know," sighed Hermione, "but I can't stand another year like this one. That Time-Turner, it was driving me mad. I've handed it in. Without Muggle Studies and Divination, I'll be able to have a normal schedule again."

"I'm glade," Aileen said, smiling at Hermione relieved. She had hoped the other girl would see sense and drop Muggle Studies.

"I still can't believe you didn't tell us about it," said Ron grumpily. "We're supposed to be your friends."

Word Count: 10,305

Copied: 5,011

Edited: 12/09/2017


	25. Chapter 25: Sirius Black Edited

**For the Final Time:**

Okay, lets start with: I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER. I'm just happily playing in JK's sand box. I DON'T OWN PERCY JACKSON either. I'm only allowed to play on the swing sets (pouts).

So, the next thing on my list of things to put on the top of this story: I've used a lot of the book structure of the first four years. By this I mean Aileen will be face a troll, save a dragon, go down the third floor, be blamed for opening the chamber, reveal her parseltongue abilities in the dueling club, save Ginny and kill the basilisk, and confront Sirius at the end of third year. Aileen will also be entered into the goblet, however she will be complete the tasks completely differently to Harry. If you don't like stories that do this then this isn't the story for you. Although I divert most majorly from the story line after book four, there are points through the first four years were Aileen dose something that Harry would never do because that is the way I've portrayed my character.

And finally, I have heavily edited the first twenty four chapters. You need to re-read the entire story to understand what happens after that point because it all ties together. By heavily edited, I mean nearly 40% of my story has completely been re-written. There is better characterization, more realistic sword skills and a little bit more on the emotional explanation of my character.

* * *

Chapter 25: Sirius Orion Black

With her plan nearly completely in place, Aileen went to see the headmaster the day before the students were released for their summer holidays. Since she had been to his office in second year, she knew the entrance was located on the seventh floor where the smallest tower was, overlooking the lake, forest and front gate and that the guardian was a gargoyle. However, since she hadn't been accompanied by a teacher, nor had she been invited, she didn't know the password. What she did know what that the headmaster generally used sweets. So she started guessing.

"Acid Pops"

"Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans"

"Caramel cobwebs"

"Cauldron Cake"

"Chocolate frogs"

"Crystallised Pineapple"

"Dragon Claws"

"Fever Fudge"

Finally the gargoyle jumped to the side, allowing her entrance to the headmaster's office. Aileen rolled her eyes at the password, apparently the headmaster hadn't completely forgiven Fudge for putting the Dementors around the school and endangering the students.

"Come in" the headmaster's voice called from within his office when Aileen knocked on the grand wooden door.

"Good afternoon, Headmaster." Aileen greeted the venerable wizard who was sat behind his desk, obviously doing paperwork.

"Ah, Aileen, come take a seat my dear." The headmaster smiled brightly. "Would you like a lemon drop?" he asked motioning to the dish on the edge of his desk.

"No thank you, headmaster." Aileen shook her head as she took her seat. Immediately Fawkes the Phoenix flew from his perch to land on her knee.

"It seems Fawkes is still rather found on you." The headmaster smiled, popping a lemon drop in his mouth.

"Headmaster, I was wondering if I could ask you a couple of questions?" Aileen asked, not as hesitantly as she had when she was in the Leakey Cauldron since the headmaster had already proven he would answer her questions truthfully.

"Of cause you can, my dear." The headmaster nodded his assent. "But like the last few times, I reserve the right to not answer."

"Headmaster, Hagrid said that you were the one who left me with the Dursleys?"

"Indeed I was." The headmaster agreed.

"Can I ask why?" Aileen asked curiously. It had been bugging her since she had entered the wizarding world. Her parents had been part of a war, and although her parents Will had been sealed (something she momentarily forgot about the other night when with Sirius) there should have been a line of people who knew they were listed as being suitable guardians for her, like Sirius. Aileen very much doubted that her mother would have included her sister on that list since the animosity between the two seem to have emerged when they were younger.

"There were several reasons." Dumbledore admitted, aging once again as they discussed what was probably one of his greatest mistakes – leaving Aileen with the Dursleys.

"With the end of the war, people were celebrating your defeat of Voldemort. Your father had grown up spoilt since his parents had had him late in life and it took them many years to do so. I had seen the arrogant boy he had become, and only the influence of Lily calmed him into the serious young man he became. I didn't want you to grow up surrounded by all that fame, I wanted you to grow up with a normal, healthy, happy childhood away from it all because I knew that Voldemort wasn't truly dead and that he would come back."

Aileen nodded her understanding of this argument. It was a fair enough one as well, but if Aileen had been given to someone like Remus or her cousins the Tonks who she knew from her research had been quite close to her parents through Sirius, she was sure that she wouldn't have grown up with a big head. They would have shielded her from it since they were friends of the family and lived mostly in the non-magical world. There were counter arguments to the Headmaster reasoning, but she didn't interrupt because he had said there was several reasons (one of which she knew to be the blood wards).

"The next reason was because of the Death Eaters. I knew that there was at least one spy in the order, and as you know following that night I believed that spy to be Sirius. But I regret, that I feared there may have been another. If I placed you with a wizarding family, there was a chance your location would have been found and you discovered. By placing you in a muggle home, you were protected because most Death Eaters would struggle to navigate that world. This combined with the fact that only three people knew where in the muggle world you were, provided you with protection."

Again Aileen nodded her understanding. This argument was slightly more solid then the first because the Pureblood children she had spoken with – including the Weasleys – couldn't navigate the muggle world. They wouldn't have had the first clue on how to do so, and would have likely been picked up by the wizarding authority (if not first the non-magical one) for breaking the Statue of Secrecy. Remus and the Tonks would have been ruled out at this point since their locations would have been known to various members of wizarding society and it isn't cheap to move house. She could of course, pock holes in this argument as well because there were several wards that existed and could have hid her location from Death Eaters that she had discovered in the last three years of research.

"Finally, I placed you with your aunt Petunia because of your mother's sacrifice." The headmaster sighed her, his brow frowning slightly. "I now know that this blood protection is what is trapping you in an unhappy home, but at the time I thought it was the best cause of action to keep you safe."

"My next question is about mail. Do you have a mail ward on me, if so why? And why haven't I been informed of my mail's contents – particularly anything from Gringotts?" This was a very serious question in Aileen's opinion since it effected the way she was viewed by the people.

The headmaster winced slight. "I had forgotten about that." He admitted. "When I placed you at your relatives, I placed a mail re-directory. Everything is sent to Hogwarts, were it's stored in a room her in chronological order. I haven't checked in on the room since I set it up."

"Do the house elves know where it is?" Aileen asked.

"Yes." The headmaster agreed.

"I'll send Dobby to begin transferring everything to me when I've set up an answering system." Aileen decided. "For now, the mail can stay where it is. However, headmaster can you change the ward so that official Gringotts mail can get through?"

"I've already adjusted it so Hogwarts, ministry and friend's mail can get to you. I admit that I didn't realise Gringotts would be sending you mail. It won't take me long to fix this oversight."

"Thank you." Aileen said gratefully. "Now, the last question I have is the same one I had back first year. Why is Voldemort trying to kill me?"

"Alas, dear girl, I still think you are too young to know the answer to that. I've taken so much of your childhood already, it think it best if you lived and laughed some more before I answered that." Dumbledore said regretfully.

"Why do you think I will be old enough headmaster? After everything that has already happened to me, when do you think I will be mature enough to handle this information you guard so jealously? Because it's not safe, keeping me in the dark about things. If anything, as a target it is safer that I know so that I have a greater chance of defending myself." Aileen demanded to know. She hated being treated like a child, like she can't handle something.

"After you're OWLs was when I was planning on telling you. Two years before you go out into the world. However, if the situation with Voldemort changes, I promise you I will tell you everything." The headmaster said solemnly after a moment of thought.

"Thank you, for answering my questions." Aileen sighed, getting up to leave. She had things to get done.

She now had a solid idea about how to escape the Dursleys without the pain that running away normally causes. She needed to bring down the wards on the house, and find another place in which she could call home. The blood protection her mother had placed would still flow through her veins because it had joined with her godly blood and her magical core. But the protection would be stronger once it wasn't being anchored to the Dursley's since living in a house that was causing her pain, where there was no love towards her, was twisting the protection.

"And my dear, if you succeed in getting your godfather a trial I will do everything in my influence to ensure that his trial is fair even if I can't sit as Chief Warlock due to a conflict of interest."

"I understand, thank you headmaster." Aileen said gratefully, glade that the headmaster was behind her on this.

Three days after Aileen had arrived at the Dursley's she made her way to a little café in London. She had discovered it the summer before while going on her jogs. It was a quiet place, with booths for privacy and it was close to Diagon Alley. Aileen was sat, nursing a calming cup of tea, waiting for her guests to arrive.

The same night she had spoken with the headmaster she had sent a letter to Amelia Bones, who she had discovered was the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and unquestionable fair. She hadn't said much in the letter, simple mentioning that there had been a serious miscarriage of justice and she wanted to meet with her in person at a small café in London. Since she hadn't told Madame Bones who she was, Aileen said she could bring two Aruras who she trusted.

At eight o'clock the door opened as a tall intimidating women entered the café. She was wearing a grey muggle business suit, and had a monocle attached to her pocket. This combined with her greying hair, made her look like an important and educated women of wealth. Stood behind her was a man and a women.

The women was someone she didn't recognise, wearing blues jeans and a black long sheaved shirt. Her face was soft, her eyes a sparkling blue and her hair a light brown. She was young, only just in her twenties so Aileen assumed she was a junior Arura.

The other man she recognised as being part of the Minister's guard, he had been amused when Aileen had told the Minister off, she remembered and the only one to manage blending in. He was a tall, over six feet, black man, with a golden stud in his ear. The first time she had met him he was wearing a purple robe with the Arura badge, now he was wearing a purple and black suit.

All three of them scanned the mostly empty café and spotted Aileen sat calmly within sight of the door. The youngest arura looked shocked for a moment, but Madam Bones and the man didn't react. Instead, they made their way over to her table and sat down opposite her. Before anything could be said, the waitress came over and asked for their orders.

"A pot of tea for the table with two more cups, and a cup of coffee please." Madam Bones ordered for the three obviously having discussed their drinks prior to the meeting.

"Thank you for coming, Madam Bones." Aileen started the conversation.

"Your letter intrigued me, Miss Potter, especially when you didn't give your name or purpose but said I would recognise you." The older women responded calmly.

"May I ask who your guards are?" Aileen asked curiously, she would rather not have this conversation without knowing everyone's name.

"I'm senior Arura Kingsley Shacklebolt." The black man introduced in a deep voice.

"Junior Arura Tonks." The women introduced in a happy voice.

"It's a pleasure to meet you both." Aileen smiled at them, pleased that her cousin would be here to hear this since Andromeda Tonks was Sirius favourite cousin (in that she was the only one he ever talk about positively when discussing his family).

The waitress returned with their orders then. Once she had left, Madam Bones flicked her wand. Aileen felt the magic that went up around their table, but she couldn't identify what had been cast.

"Privacy spells. Stops the muggle's from over hearing our conversation." Madame Bones explained while pouring a cup of tea for herself and Tonks while Shacklebolt pulled the coffee closer to himself.

"Now then, what was this miscarriage of just you wanted to talk about?" Madam Bones asked while Tonks pulled out a notebook to take notes.

"Sirius Orion Black." Aileen said seriously.

"What about him?" Madame Bones asked.

"Several things. But first, are you aware that he was capture at Hogwarts five nights ago before managing to escape?" Aileen asked, covering the basics first.

"Yes." Madame Bones nodded.

"Good." Aileen sighed before straightening up in her seat.

"You are aware that Sirius Black is my godfather?"

"Indeed." Madame Bones nodded her head hesitantly, not sure where this conversation was going.

"And are you aware, that in 1976 Sirius Black ran away from his home and was taken in by House Potter, officially becoming a Son of House Potter to protect him from his mother?"

"No," Madame Bones admitted, "I wasn't aware that Black was a Son of House Potter."

From the folder beside her Aileen pulled an official Gringotts document, signed by her grandparents that declared Sirius as their son and under the protection of the house. She had pulled (with Sirius permission) other documents stating how he had taken her as a daughter of the house of Black, but she wasn't going to use them unless she had no choice. It was always good to have an ace up her sleeve encase something went wrong.

Madame briefly read through it, before waving her wand to create an official copy which she then taped with the tip of her wand and handed to Shaklebolt. Aileen took her copy back and left it next to the folder so she didn't have to go digging for the next document she planned on pulling out.

"Five nights ago, I told the minister of magic that my godfather was innocent of all crimes he was accused of. I was ignored, and he attempted to give him the Kiss. Only through luck had my godfather managed to escape with his life. At the time I was speaking with the minister, I warned him that if he continued to ignore the evidence before him of Sirius Black's innocents I would bring the weight of my House down on him. I'm following through on my promise." Aileen informed her shocked guests formally, her voice laced with steal.

"What makes you think Sirius Black is innocent, Heiress Potter?" Madame Bones asked, changing her term of address now that Aileen had made it clear that this was House of Potter business.

"I have several reasons but I shall start with the piece of information that will force you take action whether or not the rest of my information is proven true." Aileen responded, smiling sharply as Madame Bones raised an eyebrow. "Sirius Black was never given a trial."

"What?" Tonks was the one to demand horrified.

"It was proven that Black cast the blasting hex that killed Peter Pettrigrew, and Dumbledore himself stood and testified that Black had been the Potter's secret keeper." Madame Bones, denying what Aileen had just told her.

Aileen once again reached into the folder and pulled out a long list of names and dates. "This is the name of every person given a trial from November 1st 1981 through to December 1984. I gave it such a large gap, in the hopes that someone would have realised that they had made an error. No one did. This list also includes those who had sealed trials since their names and court dates are made available after the fact."

Madame Bones took the list and looked through it, her lips thinning as she went further down the list and didn't fine Sirius Black's name at any point on the list. It was law that everyone be given a fair trial and a right to defence no matter how much evidence they had against someone. The fact that Sirius Black had just spent the last twelve years in prison without a trial, and the last year hiding from the Dementors due to a kiss on sight order, was breaking the law in itself. Once again Madame Bones copied the parchment and passed it Shaklebolt who also read through to make sure that she hadn't missed anything.

"You're right, the knowledge of a lack of trial pulls Sirius Black's case into question. I will have to rescind the Kiss on Sight order the moment we get into office and re-open his case." Madame Bones sighed, the political backlash from this would be enormous, especially if Sirius Black was innocent as Heiress Potter claims.

"Why else do you think Sirius is innocent?" Tonks asked curiously, finishing her notes from what had been said so far. She had never been involved in something as big as this, and the chance of seeing her favourite cousin free was something she was looking forward too, especially since her mother never through that Sirius was guilty of his crimes.

"My father, Sirius and Pettigrew all became animagus while they were in Hogwarts. Sirius and James's forms where placed sealed during the war." Aileen told them. "Sirius was a big black dog."

"It would explain why we couldn't find him." Shaklebolt said, nodding his acknowledgement of the information.

"How do you now they were sealed?" Madam Bones asked.

Once again Aileen pulled two documents from her folder. They were a copy of the sealed information that both her father and Sirius had been given. They had stored them in their bank vaults encase they ever needed to prove this information and the Head of Department of Law Enforcement (the only person capable of opening the seal) couldn't located – or in Madam Bone's case – didn't know to locate, their copy.

With a sigh, Madam Bones copied the documents she had been given after pursing the written order by her predecessor – Barty Crouch Sr. this was getting more politically damaging by the minute.

"When he broke out of Azkaban, the first thing Sirius did was track me down. He found me at my Aunt's house two weeks into the summer holidays."

"It took him three days to track you across the entirety of Britain?" Madame Bones asked impressed.

"I was the only reason he stayed sane in Azkaban. The reason why he escaped." Aileen explained. "And he was one of the best hit-wizards the department had ever seen. Even without complete access to his magic, he was able to find me."

"There was never a report of a Black sighting near you." Madame Bones said with a thrown.

"That's because he remained in his dog form. I actually adopted him as my own dog." Aileen smiled at them slightly sheepishly. "He would play with the kids in the park with me, and when I ran away, he followed. The headmaster gave me permission to bring him to Hogwarts."

"Well the Dementor guard was rather redundant with Black already on the grounds." Madame Bones sighed in annoyance.

"During the summer holiday and school year, Sirius had hundreds of opportunities to kill me if he wanted to." Aileen informed them. "Even when I met him in his human form inside the Gryffindor common room, he made no move to attack me despite the fact that he had a knife. Hell he even saved my life when I was attacked by Dementors while on my broom."

"Which wouldn't make sense if he was trying to kill you." Madame Bones agreed.

"I had been researching Sirius Black, I wanted to know why everyone was so worried for me. During my research I came across the name Peter Pettigrew, the man everyone believes to be dead."

"Believes to be…" Shaklebolt repeated back. "You don't think he's dead?"

"My father and his friends created a map." Aileen explained pulling said blank parchment from her folder. "It shows every person and ghost inside the school. And it kept showing me Peter Pettigrew."

"How does the map work?" Madame Bones asked, not reaching for this piece of parchment since it was a family heirloom.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good "Aileen said, tapping the parchment with her finger. Immediately writing began to appear on the parchment. Aileen opened it to reveal a map of the castle. Only the ghosts and Dumbledore were in residence at the moment.

"Very impressive." Madame Bones complement.

"I give you my permission to document the map's existence, and if you speak with Remus Lupin he can confirm some of the spells that went into its manufacturing." Aileen told them, nodding to Tonks who started writing in her note book again. She had stopped the moment a family heirloom had been mentioned, even if it was only one generation old.

"So you are saying that this map claims Peter Pettigrew to be alive?" Madame Bones asked curiously.

"Yes, and I have further proof." Aileen agreed, leaning back in her chair slightly.

"Are you aware of why the minister was at Hogwarts the other day?" Aileen asked curiously.

"No." Madame Bones admitted.

"A hippogriff had been accused of harming a student despite the fact that I was the student the hippogriff actually harmed, and the other student received a small cut from a knife he had been carrying, and the Minister was there to see it executed. Since the ministry officials refused to listen to me, and the other witnesses over Lord Malfoy, me and my two best friends Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley had gone down to see Hagrid the night Buckbeak – the hippogriff was meant to be executed." Aileen drank the last of her cooling tea. This was the longest part of her explanation and she hoped the others wouldn't interrupt her.

"While there we discovered Ronald's pet rat, Scabbers who had gone missing earlier in the school year. Everyone believed that Crookshanks, a half kneazle had eaten him since he had made several attempts to do so." Aileen smiled slightly at her listener's confused face. "As we were returning to the school, the rat panicked and tried to escape. Ron chased it to the base of the Whomping Willow tree. Sirius appeared in his dog form. With Ronald holding the rat so tightly, he couldn't get to him without hurting Ronald, so he grabbed Ronald and dragged him under the Willow. Unfortunately, Ronald tried to stop himself from being dragged under and caught his leg on the roots of the tree. With Sirius's superior strength as a dog, he broke Ronald's leg."

"Hermione and I followed them, Crookshanks deactivating the tree. We didn't believe that there was enough time for us to go and find a teacher since we didn't understand why my dog had attacked Ronald. He had been perfectly find with Ronald before this. The passageway under the Willow led us to the Shrieking Shake at the edge of Hogsmeade. We found Ronald upstairs, in what used to be a bedroom. Sirius had returned to his human form."

"I'm assuming that a rat was Pettigrew's animagus form?" Shaklebolt interrupted. Aileen nodded. "Then why did Black not attack the rat before you arrived?"

"Because he wanted me to understand, he wanted me to know what really happened the night my parents were murdered." Aileen explained. "And he did explain it to me, but not before Remus Lupin arrived. You see I had given the map to him earlier in the year since he was the defence professor and I thought he would be the best person to know about Pettigrew. He had been keeping an eye on it, so when he saw Sirius Black and Pettigrew together he ran to go and help. He explained how his three friends had become animagus to help him. However, we were interrupted by Professor Snape." Aileen winced slightly here. "He was angry, and refused to listen so I stunned him."

"Sirius explained how he knew everyone would think him to be my parents Secret Keeper and he had already been attack several times. So he said he would play decoy, make everyone believe it was him, keep the Death Eater's attention on himself, while Peter Pettigrew would be the actual Secret Keeper. No one knew that Pettigrew had been spying for Voldemort for nearly a year by that point. The night my parents were murdered, Sirius had gone to check on Peter. He found his home empty, no sign of a struggle. In fear, Sirius returned to Godric Hallows were he found my parents murdered, and me crying. He cast a healing charm on my head and went to take me to safety when Hagrid appeared on the orders of Dumbledore. He took a lot of convincing, but Sirius finally gave me over to Hagrid, believing I would be placed somewhere safe for a couple of days before he could take me in."

Aileen had gotten complete details of what happened to Sirius that nigh over the journal since she figured it was important for the tail. If the ministry had kept Sirius wand – as they should have done – then they can cast prior incantatum on the wand and it will show that he cast an infant healing charm, proving he meant Aileen no harm.

"He went after Pettigrew. Tracking him down to a street. Before he could bring him in, however, Pettigrew drew the attention of the muggles around him. Sirius couldn't attack him with so many no magical witness so he hesitated. That was all Pettigrew needed to cast a blasting curse at the gas main, cut of his finger and disappear. Sirius was dazed from the blast and his grief, he said if he hadn't laughed he would have cried."

Aileen blinked back tears at this point. It had been had to talk about her parent's death, almost dispassionately despite the fact that she still had a father. Her step-dad had died protecting her, had adopted her by blood, and that was something she wasn't ever going to forget.

"Their story made more sense to me than anything else I had discovered, it fit the evidence better. So I let them cast the animagus reversal charm at the rat."

"You let them?" Madam Bones questioned.

"They were explaining for my benefit. They wanted me to understand. I had had them covered with my wand for a good proportion of the conversation, even when I lowered my wand, I am a fast caster and with Sirius still suffering the after effects of Azkaban, I would have probably got a spell of faster than them." Aileen explained. Madame Bones nodded her understanding. "When Pettigrew was forced back into his human form, he tried to blame Sirius but his argument was cut down and eventually he admitted to being a spy for Voldemort and selling my parents location in exchange for his life. I even revealed the Dark Mark on his arm."

"How did he escape?" Madame Bones asked, assuming that was what happened next since the Minister still wanted to administer the kiss.

"I refused to let Sirius and Remus kill Pettigrew. We were on the way back to the castle, but Remus had forgotten it was the full moon, and when he went out to confront Pettigrew he hadn't taken his wolfsbane potion. He transformed. Sirius turned into a dog, and distracted him to keep us safe, but Pettigrew had grabbed Remus's wand. I disarmed him but he turned into a rat and escaped before I could stop him." Aileen admitted. "Without any light, I couldn't find him. It was then that I heard Sirius, he was crying - howling in pain. I couldn't lose him…." Aileen took a fortifying breath.

"I ran after him, and found him being surrounded by Dementors. Because of how they affected me, Remus had taught me the patronus, which I cast to push the Dementors back. I nearly drained my magical core," Aileen admitted, "trying to hold so many Dementors back. In the end, they pushed my patronus to the side and attempted to Kiss me, figuring I was the bigger threat."

Madam Bones growled in anger at that. The Dementors were never meant to attack an innocent, and they defiantly weren't meant to give them the kiss.

"Just before it could though, someone had cast a corporal patronus, which saved my life as well as Hermione's and Sirius'. I woke up in the hospital wing a little while later, where the Minister refused to listen to what I was saying. He believed I had been hit with a confundus curse, despite the fact that I told him I would give him the memory of events."

"He shouldn't have even dealt with the situation. The moment Black was caught, the Aruras were meant to have been called in. The Kiss on Sight ordered only applied to the Dementors finding Black, if he was captured by wizards he was to be returned to Azkaban." Madame Bones explained.

"Do you know where Sirius Black is?" Shaklebolt asked after a moment of silence.

"As my right as the last of the line of House Potter, heiress of the House Potter, I have placed Sirius Orion Black, son of House Potter, Heir of House Black under my protection. Until the Ministry can promise me that he will see a fair trial unharmed, he will remained in an undisclosed location. The day of the trial, I will accompany him to the ministry, where I expect him to make it to court unharmed." Aileen said, channelling her inner princess of the sea that her father kept telling her she was.

"As The Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement I accept Sirius Orion Black's placement under the protection of House Potter, and promise him safe passage to his trial, the date to be determined." Madame Bones said, holding her wand across her chest as she gave an oath of office.

"So Mote It Be." Aileen accepted the oath.

"May we take a memory of the events that occurred at the shake?" Madame Bones asked.

"I don't know how to remove a memory." Aileen admitted.

"Just think of the events you want us to see, I'll do the rest." Shaklebolt ordered.

Once he had collected the memory, Madame Bones promised to be in contact once they had finished the official investigation.

It had been twelve days since Aileen's meeting with Madam Bones. She had managed to escape all physical abuse from her uncle because of the threat of her continued contact with her godfather, the magical law enforcement and her headmaster. Between speaking with Sirius via the journals, and making arrangements with Madame Bones, Aileen had finished the homework she had been assigned and had finished the theory behind her potion that would allow someone to breath under water. She was confident that it would work but she would need to test it when she got back to Hogwarts.

Finally, Madam Bones had gotten all the information she needed in order to free her Godfather. Aileen had packed all her belongings and looked around her room one last time. She knew that with her Godfather's freedom, she would not be returning to the Dursley's. She would no longer have to put up with the pain, the anger, the hatred that poured from her relatives. She wouldn't have to hide who she was, what she wanted or what she felt anymore. She would be free in all sense of the word.

With a smile Aileen activated the portkey that Sirius had sent to her. He had taken up residence in his old family home – 12 Grimmauld Place. It wasn't under fildieus yet, but he was planning on casting it once he was a free man. But the Black Wards were impressive and with him holding them, no one put Aileen and Remus could enter. Since Aileen knew that Sirius' home life had not been much better than her own, she had asked Dobby to help Sirius redecorate. Since the goblins didn't care that Sirius was on the run from the law, he had access to his vaults and so had started doing as Aileen suggested. Apparently, Sirius wasn't even half done with the redecorating because of the dark magic that had seeped into the walls.

When the spinning of the portkey had stopped and Aileen had regained her barring, she looked to the house that was stood before her. It was an old terrace, built in the Victorian era, very impressive and intimidating even without the vertical wall of wards she could feel pushing against her as she made her way to the door. Not wanting to test the hostile wards, Aileen knocked loudly on the door and waited.

It took Sirius only a few minutes to open the door and smile at her. Having anticipated Sirius' next actions, Aileen let him pull her into a very tight bear hug that had her smiling softly at the shear amount of love pouring of the man. It was staggering, and she wasn't entirely sure how to handle it. Aileen knew her father loved her, and although she had hugged him, he had never expressed his feelings as openly as Sirius was.

"Cub." Sirius greeted brightly.

"Padfoot." Aileen responded with a smile. "Are you ready to be a free man?"

"More than ready." Sirius stepped back so Aileen could see what he was wearing. On Aileen's suggestion, he had got Dobby to buy him a set of formal robes. They were black and fit his form nicely showing that although Sirius was slightly underweight he had started to regain his muscle and former form. Under the robes, which he had left open, Sirius wore black trousers which clung to him and a formal shirt with tie. He had masterfully combined muggle with wizarding without distraction from the formality or impressiveness.

"Very nice." Aileen complimented him as they entered the house. The hall way was bright, painted in welcoming and calming browns. There was a grand staircase leading up to the rest of the house, where the colour scheme had been continued.

"Are you wearing that to the trial, or are you getting change?" Sirius question, motioning the black jeans and green shirt Aileen was wearing.

"Oh, I'm defiantly getting change." Aileen smirked at him wickedly.

"You know, your mother wore that look once." Sirius said, taking a hasty step back.

"Did she?" she questioned him innocently.

"Only a few times, and it never ended well for whoever had angered her." Sirius nodded.

"Indeed." Remus' calm voice came from an open doorway. "Sirius never dared anger her like that again."

"Moony." Aileen greeted the man with a smile. Like Sirius the last few weeks seemed to have done Remus well. He was wearing new cloths, the almost permanent tiredness he had emitted before was gone and he had a sparkly in his eyes.

"Cub." He greeted with a smile. "You've only got an hour before the trial."

"Alright, is there somewhere I can get changed?" Aileen questioned.

"Yeah, your room is first floor, second door on the right." Sirius said pointing to the stairs.

"I'll be down in a minute." She promised before ascending the staircase. Aileen had to pause a minute and wrestle with her emotions when she came across a door that read:

 _Aileen Potter,_

 _Prongslet,_

 _Our Cub_.

They had given her, her own room. Accepting her into their family without hesitation. That was going to take some getting used to.

Stepping through the floo into the Ministry, Aileen smoothly drew her wand and stepped to the side to let her godfather through as she scanned the area. Kinglsey and Tonks were both waiting for them in their normal work robes, wands drawn and ready to defend her godfather as they made their way through the ministry. When Sirius stepped out of the floo, they both stepped forward.

"Arura Kingsley, if you could protect my godfathers back? Junior Arura Tonks if you could lead the way to the court room?" Aileen asked sharply before anyone else could notice who had stepped into the Atrium.

"Of course, Heiress Potter." The two responded recognising her authority in this matter.

As a group they started moving through the Atrium and silence fell. Aileen knew what image they presented. Two aruras, trained and on the alert with their wands drawn and ready to act the moment they were ordered. Sirius Black, stood in his formal robes which she had made an alteration to before leaving. She had added the Black and Potter House crest prominently to Sirius' right shoulder, showing his protection despite the fact that he did not have his own wand. And then there was Aileen herself, stood half a step in front of her godfather and moving with a predator's grace.

All her years of fighting monsters, and hiding her emotions from the Durlsey's had done her well. That combined with her training made her very formidable. She had been starved for far too long to be considered tall, but Hogwarts' meals and her cunning meant that her thinness wasn't prominent and instead her muscular physique came through in the tautness of her legs and stomach. Her face was a blank mask, but her eyes were sharp and taking in everything and everyone. She moved with a purpose towards the lift – clearly radiating the aura of a protective women who had been scorned.

To emphases these points about her, Aileen had dressed for the occasion. She was wearing leaver trousers that clung to her legs and moved soundlessly with her. A leather corset protected her chest and stomach. Her arms were protect with bracers in which a dagger hilt could clearly be seen. Thrown over her shoulders was a black sleeveless cloak to match Sirius, with the Potter and Black crests on. The cloak didn't detract from the very dangerous image Aileen was presenting – if anything it added to it by billowing with each controlled step forward.

Nobody dare speak as the group passed through the ministry but the occasional camera flesh occurred from within the assembled wizards. When they made it to the court room it was to find the Lords and Lady's of the Wizagnmont present in their seats, and the public and press packed into the observation boxes. Madame Bones was waiting at the doors, nodding to Kingsley and Tonks who nodded in turn, stepping up to guard the doors which closed behind Sirius and Aileen as the last people to make it to the court – which was by design.

Madame Bones walked beside Aileen and Sirius, escorting them to the chair that sat alone in the middle of the room or the one awaiting trial. Sirius took the seat, making it look like he was simply reclining on a throne as opposed to an uncomfortable concrete chair in which he was immediately bond by chains. Aileen stepped up to Sirius's shoulder, her wand still drawn and her eyes constantly assessing the people around her.

Madam Bone's took her seat beside the Minister, ignoring the whispering of the Wizagnmont now that she had fulfilled her oath stating that Sirius would make it to his trial unharmed to the best of her ability.

"Miss Potter, you cannot remain there while a trial is being conduct. You will have to wait outside." The Minister said in a condescending tone.

"You will find, minister." Aileen said coldly, her voicing traveling to every corner of the room without much effort as was the design of the chamber. "That I am here as Heiress Potter, of the Ancient and Nobel House of Potter and as the last remaining Potter I can act as Lady Potter, Head of the House of Potter when a member of my house is being trialled. I stand as the defence and shield of the son of house Potter until such a time as it has been irrevocably proven he is guilty of the crimes of which he is accused or he can defend himself."

"The point remains that you cannot be beside the accused during trial." The Minister continued as the room took in what Aileen had just said. It was not a well-known fact that Sirius was a son of House Potter.

"You will find, I am well within my rights to remain in defence, Minister. I would advise asking a Lord or Lady of a Most Ancient and Nobel House before you continue."

"Heiress Potter, defender of the accused, is right." A sharp voice cut through whatever the Minster was going to say. An elder, poised Lady with the Longbottom crest on her robes spoke. "You cannot remove her without violating the old laws in relation to an Ancient House and risk becoming an enemy of the House of Potter and – judging by the crests she bares – the House of Black."

There was silence in the room before Madame Bones spoke. "Lady's and Gentlemen of the Wizagnmont you are called here today to rectify an injustice done to Sirius Orion Black, heir of house Black, son of House Potter. It was brought to my attention that he was never given a trial – we will now rectify this."

Angered voice rose, demanding how an heir to an Ancient Pureblood family was sentenced to Azkaban without a trial. It took several attempts for Madame Bones to regain control so she could continue.

"On November 3rd 1981, Sirius Orion Black was arrested on the charges of betraying the Potters leading to their deaths, being a Death Eater and killing twelve muggles and a wizard. Sirius Black, how do you plead?" Madame Bones read the charges when she was able to control the room.

"Not guilty to all charges." Sirius answered confidently. Whispers filled the room again, but they were quick to fall silent when Madame Bones continued.

"We will start with the charge of being a Death Eater. It is a well-documented fact that all Death Eaters bore the Dark Mark," as she spoke Kingsley approach. "If you do not have the mark, you aren't a Death Eater."

Instead of Kingsley pulling back the sleeve of Sirius' robe, it was Aileen who rolled it back to his elbow. There was no protests from the bound man when Kingsley ran through a long series of revealing charms.

"There is no Dark Mark." Kingsley announced, bowing his head to the audience.

"Very well. Then onto the charge of killing twelve muggles and a wizard – a Mr Peter Pettigrew – on November 2nd 1981. We have Mr Black's wand, held untampered and locked in evidence since the night he was arrested." A nondescript wizard stepped forward holding said wand. "Mr Ollivander, I call you forward as a specialist witness."

Ollivander stepped forward and took the witness oath which prevented him from lying on the stand.

"Mr Ollivander, can you confirm whose wand this is?"

"Sirius Blacks." The man answered instantly after picking it up. "And it has seen quite some use in transfiguration and defensive magic as it was design to."

"What was the last spell cast by this wand?" Madame Bones continued to ask seriously.

"Priori incantatem."Ollivander cast. There was a blue light hovering above the wand for a second before it faded. "The last spell cast by this wand was an infant healing spell."

Murmurs picked up in the chambers once more at this revelation.

"Thank you, Mr Ollivander I have no more questions." Ollivander surrendered the wand and returned to the witness section. "Unspeakable Crooker, if you could take the stand?" a man dressed in grey step up to the stand and was sworn in.

"Following the re-opening of the case, the aura reports of the night in question were handed over, along with pictures. Can you tell us what you discovered?"

"After using the information found by the recording spells that were cast as per protocol, we did a re-enactment from the scene. It was suggested at the time that Sirius Black cast a blasting curse that hit Peter Pettigrew and some kind of gas main pipe in the road, which led to a large explosion killing the muggles. However, the angle of trajectory for such a thing is impossible. The curse impacted the gas main pipe directly from above – and the other side of the street to where Sirius Black was during the confrontation. It is forensically impossible for him to have been the one to cast the curse. Furthermore, the finger of Peter Pettigrew was examined. In the event of an explosion the point of severance would have been ragged, but the wound indicated that it had been cut off with a knife. Additionally, despite Pettigrew being at the heart of the explosion there should have been more body parts found." Crooker explained calmly, using his hand to create a holo-graphic image that showed the scenario of Sirius casting the blasting curse, and Pettigrew casting it.

"So it is your professional opinion that Sirius Black did not cast the blasting curse?" Madame Bones confirmed.

"Yes." Crooker nodded his head.

"I have no more questions." Madame Bones dismissed the unspeakable who re-took is seat.

"I present to the Wizaganmont a memory given by Heiress Potter." Madame Bones said as the man who had presented the wand came forward with a pensive. Having been forewarned that she would be presenting her memory, Aileen placed her wand to her temple and focused. She couldn't use the memory she gave to madam Bones since it could have been tampered with. That copy was destroyed and she had to pull a new copy before the court. It took a few moments before she began to pull her wand away with the memory which she then placed in the pensive.

The Wizaganmont then watched in shocked silence as they saw the events of the shack unfold. The doubts Aileen had initial cast, the explanation by Remus and Sirius and finally the reveal of Peter Pettigrew. The memory continued until Aileen stepped into to prevent the death of Pettigrew.

"Are there any questions this wizaganmont would like to pose?" Madame Bones asked of the silent room.

"I would like to add illegal animagus to the accused record. Sirius Black is not on the registor." A cold voice said from the back of the room.

"May I address this one, Madame Bones?" Aileen stepped forward.

"Of course." Madame Bones nodded her agreement as she motioned to the item handler to get the paperwork out.

"Sirius Black registered his animagus formed beside James Potter, but due to their roles as hit-wizards this knowledge was placed under a secrecy act. Although this act expired in 1990, no one searched for the information and so it wasn't official added to the register." Aileen explained.

"This is the appropriate paperwork." Madame Bones confirmed.

"Then I withdraw my motion." The Lord consented, seeing that Sirius had legally hidden knowledge of his form.

"Any more questions?" When no one raised their wand, she nodded. "Then we will go to vote. Those who believes that Sirius Black is guilty?" no one dared raise their wand after what they had just seen despite the fact that some members of the Wizagnmont looked unhappy. "Innocent?"

"Then Sirius Black is cleared on all charges." Madame Bones declared with a smile as the chains fell away from Sirius who stood. "For the twelve years wrongful imprisonment and the additional year spent on the run, the Wizagnmont awards Sirius Orion Black 10,000 Galleons per year. The finally thing that needs to be discussed is guardianship over Heiress Potter. As Godfather you have the right to take full custody."

"We have discussed the situation," Sirius responded calmly. "I will take full custody."

"Very well. Aura Shaklebolt and Tonks will escort you from the Ministry until the news of your innocents has time to reach the public. Mr Davies please return Mr Black's wand." Madame Bones stated formally. "And be assured that I will be investigating why this injustice was allowed to happen."

Both Sirius and Aileen bowed their thanks to her before leaving the ministry in the same fashion that they had entered, only this time Sirius was armed and able to defend himself and so walked beside Aileen instead of slightly behind her.

* * *

Sorry this took so long, but the amount of changes was a nightmare. hoe you are enjoying the story so far. Next my story as some more Sirius and Aileen interaction (when I get around to writing it). Pls review

Copied: 0

Word count: 8,179

Edited: 12/09/2017


	26. Timeline

Hi, normally I would never do this but I felt like this needed to be said because I am aware that most people don't read my AN.

Several times I have gone back and edited my story, but the changes have been relatively minor. However, going back through it have made MAJOR CHANGES to the first two chapters and it's looking like I will being doing the same to the following twenty. I've yet to post these changes but I will be doing so when my sister has gone through them. Several of the readers of this story have pointed out that I've followed to closely to the book, and I agree with you. However, at the time I wasn't entirely confident on where I was going with the story. Now that I'm twenty seven chapters in, I know where I am going with the story and I'm more confident in deviating from the structure although I am still including main plot points.

Because I am editing the first 25 chapters, It's going to take me a while to post any new chapters. Additionally, I'm taking a driving exam in April, preparing for my A-level exams in June, working part-time, moving house, visiting the doctors and various other life events that have been thrown at me. At the minute I'm prioritizing the exams, which means that my fan fiction writing will be taking a back seat. my last exam is the 25 of June and so you will find that in the month or so following that date I will begin updating the edits to my story more quickly and possible post brand new chapters.

For those of you who are wondering about when the Percy Jackson cross-over truly begins about side of just brief mentions, and the presence of Poseidon, I have included a time-line of events below.

Aileen Potter Born: 31/7/1980

Thalia Grace Born: 22/12/1980

Voldemort's first defeat: 31/10/1981

Annabeth Chase Born: 12/7/1986

Percy Jackson Born: 18/8/1986

Visit to the Zoo: 12/4/1991

Annabeth's 5th Birthday: 12/7/1991

Aileen's 11th Birthday: 31/1991

Percy's 5th Birthday: 18/8.1991

First Year Begins: 1/9/1991

Halloween: 31/10/1991

Quidditch: 3/11/1991

Thalia's 11th Birthday: 22/12/1991

1st Chistmas: 25/12/1991

Mirror of Erised: 28/12/1991

Dragon: 3/4/1992

Goodbye Norbert: 13/4/1992

Man with Two Faces: 20/6/1992

First Train Home: 25/6/1992

Annabeth's 6th Birthday: 12/7/1992

Aileen's 12ths Birthday: 31/7/1992

Weasley rescue: 6/8/1992

Percy's 6th Birthday: 18/8/1992

Beginning of Second Year: 1/9/1992

Halloween: 31/1992

Thalia's 12th Birthday: 22/10/1991

Christmas Day: 25/12/1992

Chamber of Secrets: 2/6/1993

Second Train Home: 24/6/1993

Black's Escape: 7/7/1993

Annabeth 7th Birthday: 12/7/1992

Aileen's 13th birthday: 31/7/1993

Aileen's Escape: 3/8/1993

Percy's 7th birthday: 18/8/1993

Beginning Third year: 1/9/1993

Thalia's defeat: 3/10/1993

Halloween: 31/10/1993

Christmas Day: 25/12/1993

Sirius' tale: 18/6/1994

Back to the Dursleys': 24/6/1994

 _Meeting Madame Bones: 28/6/1994_

 **From this point on this is a future timeline in the story and the dates maybe subject to change. I've also included a couple less key points encase I decide to change something and I get your hopes up :)**

 _A Sirius Trial: 2/7/1994_

 _A Weasley invitation: 8/7/1994_

Annabeth's 8th Birthday: 12/7/1994

Aileen's 14th birthday: 31/7/1994

 _World Cup: 10/8/1994_

Percy's 8th birthday: 18/8/1994

Forth year: 1/9/1994

Three schools: 30/10/1994

Goblet of fire: 31/10/1994

First task: 24/11/1994

Christmas Day/Yule Ball: 25/12/1994

Second task: 24/2/1994

Third task: 24/6/1994

Back home: 28/6/1995

Annabeth 9th Birthday: 12/7/1995

Aileen's 15th birthday: 31/7/1995

Percy's 9th birthday: 18/8/1995

Fifth year: 1/9/1995

Christmas: 25/12/1995

Back Home: 20/6/1996

Annabeth 10th birthday: 12/7/1996

Aileen's 16th birthday: 31/7/1996

Percy's 10th birthday: 18/8/1996

Beginning Year six: 1/9/1996

Christmas Day: 25/12/1996

An Attack: 18/6/1997

Home: 24/6/1997

Annabeth's 11th Birthday: 12/7/1997

Aileen's 17th birthday: 31/7/1997

Percy's 11th birthday: 18/8/1997

 **From here, there the Percy Jackson books start coming in.**

Winter Solstice: 21/12/1997

Voldemort's death: 8/5/1998

Camp: 20/6/1998

Quest for the bolt: 11/7/1998

Annabeth's 12th Birthday: 12/7/1994

Summer solstice: 21/7/1998

Aileen's 12th birthday: 18/8/1998

 **I haven't written any more of the time line, but this is a basic time line for like the next twenty to fifty chapters (depending on how it all goes).**


	27. Chapter 26: House Rules

Okay, lets start with: I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER. I'm just happily playing in JK's sand box. I DON'T OWN PERCY JACKSON either. I'm only allowed to play on the swing sets (pouts).

 **I've decided to put my Last Authors note here just encase someone decided to skip straight to the new upload:**

So, the next thing on my list of things to put on the top of this story: I've used a lot of the book structure of the first four years. By this I mean Aileen will be face a troll, save a dragon, go down the third floor, be blamed for opening the chamber, reveal her parseltongue abilities in the dueling club, save Ginny and kill the basilisk, and confront Sirius at the end of third year. Aileen will also be entered into the goblet, however she will be complete the tasks completely differently to Harry. If you don't like stories that do this then this isn't the story for you. Although I divert most majorly from the story line after book four, there are points through the first four years were Aileen dose something that Harry would never do because that is the way I've portrayed my character.

And finally, I have **heavily edited the first twenty four chapters**. You need to re-read the entire story to understand what happens after that point because it all ties together. By heavily edited, I mean nearly 40% of my story has completely been re-written. There is better characterization, more realistic sword skills and a little bit more on the emotional explanation of my character.

* * *

This chapters short since I wanted to get it out there, and I've decided to break up the summer holidays since a lot is going to happen over a short period of time and this is were major changes from the books start happening. The only thing really the same about my story and book four from here on in should just be the attack at the cup and the Tri-Wizard Tournament and Voldemort's kidnapping. However, reactions, scenarios and everything else about it has changed. It will take me some time to get the next set of chapters out because I'm starting uni life and i don't know how my schedules going to look and how much time i'll have to devote to this.

* * *

Chapter 26: House Rules

When they returned from the ministry, they had a celebratory lunch, with Sirius filling Remus in on what happened. Although Aileen wanted Remus to come (to cover Sirius's left side when they walked in and give a more impressive image), he was wary about how his presence would affect Sirius and Aileen's image and so he opted to remain behind.

The lunch turned into a three cause meal with a large triple chocolate cake for desert. Dobby was over joyed to be cooking for his 'great mistress Aileen' and taking over the care of the house while Kreature had been relegated to moving all dark artefacts to the basement so that Sirius didn't have to put up with his insulting grumbling.

Sirius had just finished telling Remus about the trial, and how it was probably the quickest trial he had ever heard about (mostly due to Madam Bones and Aileen preparation) and how Aileen had shot down the Lord who wanted to get Sirius on charges of being an unregister animagus.

"Even if your registration hadn't been sealed, it is only a five year sentence for being unregistered if you had used your form in a manner that harmed others or broke the law. Otherwise, it's just a fine. Since you'd spend twelve years unlawfully imprisoned they couldn't have done anything about it since you had more than served your sentence and the fine would have come out of the compensation they ministry owes you." Aileen shrugged. She hadn't needed to find out about Sirius' registration, but it was leverage that madam Bones could use against Crouch and made Sirius look better in the eyes of the public.

"Yes, but you didn't need to act like his point was so far beneath you." Sirius pointed out in amusement.

"I was making a point." Aileen contradicted. "You mess with my family, and you face my wrath."

"That's why you decided to wear what amounted to war robes." Remus said in realisation.

"In a way I was declaring war on Fudge and anyone at the ministry who would dare and retaliate against me and mine for anything I've done or will do. I threatened the minister and I needed to follow through it or otherwise I would be considered weak. That and my House has been out of power for nearly fourteen years. I needed a foot in the door." Aileen explained her reasoning.

"Which reminds me, what are you doing about House Potter?" Sirius asked, turning Sirius for the first time since they made it home.

"Several things." Aileen answered, pulling a note book from a pocket in her robes (both she and Sirius had gotten changed the moment they made it home). Opening it to the first page, she crossed off getting Sirius a trial before looking at the rest of the list. "I need to officially take up heirship of my houses. Need to sign the paperwork to make you regent, Sirius. Need to finish signing the documents for Dumbledore and the finalisation of the uses of the find. Hopefully he has finished compiling his list and how much it's going to cost so I know if the basilisk will cover it or if I need to make a donation. I'll contact him for a meeting time. Following the 17th when the twins get their results, I need to fill out the documentation saying I'll fund their Joke shop since I don't have a doubt that they've got the OWLs I asked of them. Now that Sirius can act as my regent I need to meet with the people that had been allied with house Potter and sign off on all the changes I want made but couldn't authorise due to my status." Aileen listed off what was at the top of her list.

"Blimy, are you planning on having a holiday?" Sirius asked.

"Of course." Aileen looked up and blinked. "Mr Weasley and Mrs Weasley have invited me to visit them over the holidays, and I was hoping you would allow me to spend a couple of hours each week with them. One of the things I need to see to about the Potter Estates is one of the houses in Spain and if you would like we can spend a week, or so, there as a holiday – I've never been out of the country. And I'm sure we could turn decorating the house into something fun. Ron mentioned something about inviting me to the world cup, but I'm not sure what's happening with that yet."

"At least I know I never need to worry about planning." Sirius sat back in his chair with a shake of his head. "But I think it's going to take us a while to settle into a relationship that the two of us feel comfortable with since it's becoming painfully obvious to me that you don't need a father figure."

"You're right, I like my independent too much." Aileen admitted. "I think, it's going to take me time to get used to having an adult in my life I can trust. But I'm sure, given time, we'll find a way that suits the both of us." Aileen finished confidently, glad that Sirius had recognised that she didn't need a father.

"In which case, I think now's a good time to settle some ground rules." Sirius decided. "Remus and I discussed it, and if you don't like one of the rules you can explain why you don't and we can compromise."

Aileen hesitated a moment, before nodding. She would rather now Sirius and Remus's rules for her so that she knew where she stood while they tried to figure out what type of relationships they were going to have. She could also use the opportunity to discuss suitable punishment. When she was younger she decided she wanted children, and she had a basic punishment outlined so that any of her future children knew what to expect when they broke one of her rules. She had been without supervision or someone to tell her off when she did something that she knew her shouldn't be doing – particularly without an adult – and she wanted that structural support even if the concept of it also terrified her.

"Rule one: no going up to the second floor without me or Sirius with you." Remus started.

"There are still a lot of dark arts and magical creatures in the area that we haven't dealt with yet. We'll go room by room, clearing it, cleaning it and then decorating it but I don't want you endangered because of something that we haven't had time to neutralise yet. The same rule applied to the room in the dungeons where Kreature is putting the cursed artefacts. There shouldn't be any reason for you to even be down there but I want to have it said anyway." Sirius picked up the explanation of the rule once Sirius had said it. Aileen was getting the feeling that this conversation my end up reflecting the Twins way of speech with one stating the rule and the other explaining it.

"Rule two: if you want to go out and visit friends or Diagon Alley or whatever, you need to let one of us know and get permission."

"This is mostly for your safety. You spent most of last summer on your own and we don't want to take your independent. We respect your running schedule and I would like to join you again – if you would allow it? But we need to know where you are encase something happens and I would feel better if you ad least let us know when you're leaving the house. The permission thing is merely encase Remus or I have a very valid excuse to say no – such as a meeting we hadn't been able to inform you about." Sirius explained once more.

Aileen frowned at this one. She understood the reasoning. "As long as you never so no to me running in the morning then I'm fine with that rule. If my safety is under question, then the fact that you joining me should keep me safe, along with the fact that I don't use the same route. You can join me just for the bounding time as well." Aileen agreed.

"Thanks. I hadn't realised how much I would like running until you started taking me with you and I missed being able to run with you the last couple of days and during the winter. Although I will mostly likely be running as human." Sirius finished with a slightly amused warning.

"As long as you can keep up with me." Aileen teased.

"Rule three: You are to always eat three meals a day, outside of visiting other people's houses, we expect you to have dinner with us. Breakfast and lunch aren't as strict, as long as you eat." Remus cut into the teasing before they could get off track.

"You're too skinny. I'll be seeing a healer, and I would like for you to join me because I don't think your weight is where it should be and you're too short." Sirius shrugged this time, figuring that the rule was kind of obvious.

Aileen sighed. "As long as it's private healer and they have taken a very strong vow of silence." Aileen agreed. She had done what she could to help limit and reverse the damage but she wasn't a fully qualified healer with years of experience. And if both her and Sirius were on a similar food regime (they were both malnourished) then it would be easier for them to cope and it would give them something else to bond other – their shared suffering.

"When I reintroduce my cousin Andromeda to the family I am hoping to ask her to be our healer. She's very good and she would be twice bound by her healing off and her oath to family and the Lord and Heir of her house." Sirius agreed, relieved that Aileen wasn't going to put up a fuse.

He didn't like the fact that she was so skinny, nor the scars he had managed to so on her that one time. She copied with pain to well and then there where the creatures that had attacked her – something else they were going to have to talk about. He remembered well when he had run away from his parents that he didn't want to see a healer, put up one hell of a fuse when the Potters had suggested it, because he had been ashamed of what he viewed as a weakness. Hopefully the fact that he was seeing a healer now and she was family (and a she) would be enough to ensure that Aileen remained complacent about that since he didn't want to make it a rule and breed resentment.

"Rule four: No going into each other's bedrooms without permission." Remus stated the next rule when it seemed that Aileen and Sirius had come to an agreement about food and seeing a healer. He had honestly been surprised when Sirius said he was going to see a healer. He was even more surprised when he said he wanted Aileen to see one too. He wasn't so surprised that Aileen accepted the need to see a healer considering what Madam Pomfrey had said about her studies and her reaction to Ronald's injury in the shack.

"Your room is your sanctuary and belongs to you. We won't go into your room unless we've been giving permission and we'll always knock on your door before entering unless you're screaming bloody murder and we thing you need help. In turn we expect you to respect our privacy and not barge into our rooms."

"Rule five: No taking books out of the library, nor reading books that have been placed of limit."

"My family is a dark family. I've currently got wards active around the library meaning only those of Black blood or otherwise keyed in can enter. That means only me, you and Remus can enter the library. When we not cleaning and breaking curses we're going to be going through the library and breaking it down into sections which I'll explain later, but I don't want you reading a lot of the books in the library without at least supervision and I defiantly don't want you practising anything you've learnt unless we've discussed it." Sirius said very seriously as he needed Aileen to understand the dangers of the next library.

"Perhaps you should then make the next rule: no practising magic from the Black library, or any magic that may seem dark or dangerous, without first discussing it and understanding the dangers of using such magic?" Aileen suggested. She understood the dangers of knowledge from speaking with Salazar which was why she had pulled those books from his library. She hadn't had time to read them yet, but she would be skimming through them and adding them to Sirius's library when she had time to discuss the chamber with him.

"Good idea. Remus, make that rule six." Sirius ordered, pointing to his friend who grabbed a quill and wrote on the parchment he had been reading from. Once he had written it, he waved his wand to readjust the numbering system.

"Rule seven: Don't hide injuries."

"Kind of self-explanatory. We can't treat what we don't know about."

"Rule eight: Don't purposefully or knowingly place your own life, or another person's, life, in danger."

"I don't know exactly what happened your first two years at Hogwarts – and I will be getting those stories from you latter – but from your talk with Dumbledore I get the feeling your life was in danger. I don't want to get a floo call from Hogwarts telling me you're in the hospital wing because you've run off without through and put your life on the line." Sirius explained this one with narrowed eye.

"I have adults to turn to now – adults I hope to come to trust. Therefore, I should have no reason to not put my life in danger – especially without adult backing which decreases the danger – like I did the first two years." Aileen agreed.

It was one of the rules that she actually wanted in her life because if a daughter or son of hers had done half the things she had gotten away with in her first two years they would have been grounded, privileges, rights to visits friends removed and enforced lessons and perhaps an essay explain what they did wrong and what they should have done in the situation and all the ways they could have died.

Sirius nodding his acknowledgement of what Aileen had said without words. She refused to accept a punishment if she had put her life in danger and her a trusted adults with her. And she wanted to be able to say she trusted them enough that she would go to them if she had problems that she couldn't handle because before then she didn't have that support. And didn't that just feel like a stab to the heart?

"Rule nine: no sneaking boys into your room. Or girls if you are so inclined."

Aileen paled and then blushed at the implication behind that statement.

"I don't mind hand holding, kissing and cuddling. I refused to accept any more until you are at least fifteen and I don't want to know about it if it happens. No pregnancy until you're at least eighteen and I want you married first." Sirius said, trying to fight away his smile at Aileen's embarrassment at this rule.

"I doubt that's something you need to be worrying about for a while and even if I did find someone, I wouldn't be doing anything like that here." Aileen responded, trying to suppressing the initial horror at the implication and then the embarrassment at thinking about a certain pair of boys who had caught her interest.

"That's the last rule that we've currently got." Remus announced.

"In which case." Sirius raised his wand and summed a photo album to himself. "I think it's time to relax with some stories."

Word count: 2,696

Copied: 0

Edited: 13/09/17


	28. Chapter 27: A healer

An update :) Sorry it took so long, but I'm a university student with volunteering commitments and I'm also looking for work, i don't have the time i want to be dedicating to this story.

Anyway, I hope the story makes sense but with the number of stories I actually have on the go (even if you haven't or won't see most of them) I would appreciate it if you reviewed and let me know if I mention something that I haven't explained or haven't mentioned before because it's from another story. I've tried to sensor it myself, but I don't have a beta reader and so something may have slipped by me.

Chapter 27: Meetings and a Healer

The day after Sirius's trial, the Black residence woke early to eat the filling breakfast provide by Dobby before beginning their day. Sirius had complained to Aileen through the journals about the Black House elf Kreature. Although Aileen wanted to speak with Kreature and overcome the past relation between Sirius and the elf, but she figured that was a job left for when she was living with the man and officially wearing the Black ring. Instead she had simple sent Dobby as a temporary measure to ensure that the man didn't starve to death and it also gave her a medium in which she could give him nutrient potions.

The first order of business that day was to go to Gringotts to Sirius could take up his Lordship ring and allow Aileen to transfer regency of House Potter over to Sirius, put on her heir rings and begin the paperwork she need sorted. Sirius also needed to update his will. They would have done so straight after the trial, but they knew that the news of his innocents wouldn't have reached to many ears by then so they figured they were better of leaving early in the morning (so as to miss the morning crowd) but most people would have already read the special addition evening paper that had been published the night before.

"So," Sirius began after his second cup of coffee which woke him up enough to function. "Why do I need to go into politics?"

"Because I can't until I'm seventeen and you're the only person that I trust enough to actually ask for my opinion before voting on something. We'll need to go over my aims, of course, but we can do that between now and the next section on August 5th." Aileen answered, wide awake and mentally planning the day. She had been up for nearly two hours, planning and reading since she hadn't done her normal physical routine that morning (Sirius had asked her to suspend it until they had finished at Gringotts).

"And why am I your steward?" Remus asked next before Sirius could respond. He was a little more awake than Sirius, but that was just because he was still use to getting up early and getting ready to teach. Normally Sirius was the more awake of them in the mornings, but Sirius had stayed up late the night before going through some pictures for Aileen and annotating them so that she knew the story behind them.

"Because you're smart, organised and someone else I trust." Aileen shrugged. "Although there are some things I can now do, it's easier to have an adult medium especially when dealing with solicitors and my estates."

"And Remus, I'm putting you down as the Black Steward as well." Sirius added.

"WHAT!" Remus shouted, both shocked and annoyed.

"It makes sense. Aileen is my heir and so the lines will likely be joined when I pass and therefore it make sense for you to become familiar with everything now instead of a couple of years down the line. And there's the additional point of you being better at all that paperwork juggling then I am especially if I'm about to enter the political arena." Sirius explain his line of reasoning.

Remus glared annoyed at the two of them but didn't say anything. After Aileen's guilt tripping the night before he had agreed to be Aileen's steward despite the fact that he disliked charity. However, he hadn't agreed to be Sirius's Steward and his argument had been too solid for him to find a reasonable reason to say no without some time to think about it (which he didn't have).

"What time have you organised for Andromeda to come and see us?" Aileen asked, hoping to distract Remus before he could come up with an excuse to turn Sirius down for the job offer. The man needed to work and since no one else will employ a werewolf they might as well offer him places in their houses.

"Ten thirty." Sirius answered.

"Right then we should get going." Aileen announced, standing and heading to the fireplace.

Behind her back Sirius and Remus exchanged amused glances, but got up to follow her anyway since they had already finished their breakfast and were simply stalling while they talked. Neither of them really wanted to take up their places but they knew that Aileen needed their help and they had already abandoned her for the last thirteen years, they were doing everything they could to make up for that.

When they arrived at Gringotts the three were immediately led to Sharpclaws office which also had Griphook and Bloodclaw there as well since Aileen had told them she would be coming in the day after her godfather's trial and what they were going to be discussing. Bloodclaw was pleased that he would now be interacting with the Black Lord instead of his heir since it meant more could be done about the accounts although Aileen had done her best with that she had access to.

First Sirius signed what he needed to take control of the black finances and received a large file from Bloodclaw with all the financial information and estate information Sirius needed to go through, including notes on the changes that Aileen had already made (or recommended). Then it was Remus' turn to sign the Stewardship papers which gave him access to the Black and Potter finances and estates to a greater degree than a minor member of the house, but less than an heir or Lord would have.

Finally, it was Aileen's turn to get the paperwork sorted. First she read through the business and partnership document that Griphook had drawn up for her and the twins when she sent the twin's portfolio to Griphook. It was everything that she wanted it to be, stating that the twins would own 30% of the business each, then Aileen would own 25% and the remaining 15% would be up to other investors. Aileen would put a start-up fund of 10,000 Galleons into the business and get a return interest of 2% of the profit.

"Arrange an appointment with Fred and George Weasley on the 27th of August since they should have gotten their official OWL results and have time to figure out a way of getting to Gringotts without their mother stopping them. They are old enough to sign the paperwork without their father present, but if you can get Bill to be present – or suggest that he's the one to bring them in – that would probably be best." Aileen said proudly handing the contract back.

"It shall be done. Will you continue monitoring this business proposition?" Sharpclaw inquired.

"Yes. I'll remain responsible for the WWW and the Lily Potter Foundation as a primary and I'll also be working with Remus in restoring the Potter properties, but other than that I'll trust my Steward until I turn fifteen and take on a couple more projects, and again when I'm seventeen and take on everything I need to be doing as the Lady of my House." Aileen outlined her plan.

"Lily Potter Foundation?" Sirius asked confused. Aileen had time to explain to them the WWW but hadn't gotten around to explaining what she had worked with Dumbledore to put in motion. She figured as former pranksters they would more than happy with what she had planned with the twins and she had been right since that discussion had dissolved into Sirius and Remus reminiscing over their time at Hogwarts and some of their best pranks.

"The board of Governors at Hogwarts weren't releasing funds that the school desperately needs – the headmaster is barely able to offer six scholarships each year and he can't replace any of the school equipment or get the wards looked at. I slayed a basilisk, and last year – with the help of the goblins and William Weasley, a Curse Breaker – it was harvested and the parts sold. That money went to the Foundation and since I own the vault and the charity the board don't get a say. I will be arranging a meeting with the headmaster in order to hash out the contract and he will be handing over the lists of prices needed for the equipment and such so that I can go through and sign off on it.

The first thing that is our biggest priority is for the wards to be check which will be taking place as soon as the Goblins, myself and the headmaster have everything arranged and the best team can be made available. They will also be using the opportunity to compare the current school wards with those detail about the original ward construction, remove what isn't needed, renew what had been lost and place what has been created." Aileen explained as best she could.

"Have you thought about advertising what you're doing, what the foundation was for?" Sirius asked after a moment of thought. "Once you do that Purebloods and those trying to get into the 'right circles' are likely to donate and you'll have more money at your disposal. In fact…" Sirius turned to Bloodclaw. "I want you to transfer 20,000 galleons into the Lily Potter Foundation Vault the moment that everything has been finalised."

"Once I've talked with Dumbledore, I'll give a statement to give to Remus as my intermediate with the press." Aileen agreed, liking the idea. She had thought to post it but she wasn't used to thinking like the high society purebloods, and as much as he hated it, Sirius did know their ways of thinking.

"Heir Potter." Sharplcaw drew her attention. "I have the first draft of the contract, you may make any changes you want now. We've also made a meeting room available for you and Dumbledore on the 5th for final talks. Then there is another meeting book on the 30th August in order to meet with the Curse Breaker team who will be going over the Hogwarts's ward. Mr Weasley will being leading the team and he has requested your presence while they go through the wards since Salazar Slytherin had several parsel based wards and you are the only one who understands them and so will be able to strength and recast these wards. He needs these translating as soon as possible."

The goblin handed over several thick scrolls that Aileen placed in her bag. She had given Bill everything she had on the wards – including notes she made while talking with Salazar. However, there were two books she hadn't completed and that must be were the parsel wards were mentioned along with the diagnostic magic Bill had cast that first day. Although he could probably work out what the wards were (and how to tear it down) he wouldn't be able to recast it and it is always safe to be certain.

"I'll send my notes directly to Bill." Aileen informed the goblins, knowing that they didn't like being message carriers. However, since Bill was working for Aileen and didn't have any other means of contacting her at the time, they had no choice but to do it this way.

Aileen read through the contract she had been giving, using a spare piece of parchment to write any suggested changes she wanted to make. Sirius – more experienced with this sort of thing from his training – read it over her shoulder but he didn't offer any suggestions. Once she had finished going through it he nodded approvingly, letting Aileen know that he wouldn't change anything other than what she had already noted down. With his approval (which gave her an unexpected warm feeling) Aileen handed the contract back to the goblins.

"Is there anything else any of you wish to go over?" Griphook inquired.

Aileen shared a look with Remus and Sirius before turning back to their goblin hosts. "No, thank you masters Griphook, Sharpclaw and Bloodclaw for your time. May Your Business Prosper."

"And may your enemies tremble at your feet."

With their business complete, Sirius led the way to their next stop. Sirius needed a whole new wardrobe, as did Remus, and Aileen wanted to pick up a couple of new shirts. They spent nearly an hour while Sirius went to town with buying himself and Remus a whole new wardrobes (despite the amount Remus protested) and he even got Aileen a couple of dresses that he would thought would look stunning on her even though Aileen didn't want to many cloths.

But finally, as the clock turned ten, they were finished just in time to head back to Grimmauld Place, get changed into comfortable cloths before greet Andromeda in the receiving room which was one of the rooms Sirius and Remus had dedicated time to making look presentable (besides the kitchen and bedrooms) since they knew they would be using it when Sirius was declared free but before they could hire someone to go through the house.

"Cousin." Andromeda greeted with a regal nod as she stepped out of the fireplace with a healers bag at her side. Remus had been the one to contact her and arrange the appointment – without telling her who her client was going to be – only that they were two high profile individuals. Immediately on Sirius being declared free, Remus had sent the note explaining that it was Sirius who had booked the appointment, along with the Floo address and evidence of Sirius' innocents since it wouldn't have reached the news by the time that Andromeda got the letter.

"Andy." Sirius returned the greeting with a smile. "Thank you for agreeing to be our healer."

"You're family." Andromeda responded. "Now, who am I looking over first?" Andy's eyes travelled down all three members of the group, making Remus shift uncomfortably since he wasn't actually there to get an examination - only for moral support.

"I'll just go look through those documents for your estates, Aileen, so that we can discuss them later." Remus said, making a hasty retreat out of the room.

"I'll go first." Sirius volunteered with a role of his eyes at the way Remus had practically run away. He had spent at least two days every month in the hospital wing when they were at Hogwarts, you would think that he would have gotten used to being around healers who noticed that he wasn't as physically healthy as he could be.

"Good, do you want Aileen to stay?" Andromeda asked as she transfigured one of the coaches into an examining table and cast privacy spells around the room which she always did when she did home visits whether there was only family in the house or not since she took client confidentiality very seriously.

"Yes." Sirius said serious although Aileen was more than willing to leave the room. Aileen looked at the man confused. They hadn't known each other long, and he didn't know much about her life (he had demanded to be told the story about the basilisk once they left the bank and Aileen had promised to tell him that night about her time at Hogwarts).

"You're my heir, you've been training to be a healer for the last three years – two of those with the tutelage of Poppy. It was you taking care of me and looking after me over the last year that has me in the decent health I am in now, and I think you deserve to know the extent of what is wrong with me and what you've helped heal." Sirius explained.

He had other reasons of course – he had seen scars on Aileen's body and he was hoping she would allow him to stay, and by showing her how much he trusted her, he was hopping she would reciprocate. He was hoping that the few scars he had seen were all that there was but his gut was telling him that wasn't the case considering the number of times he had detected blood on Aileen and the fact that she had run away from the Dursleys at thirteen. Even he hadn't run away from his crazed mother until he was sixteen!

After staring assessing at her godfather for a long moment Aileen made her decision. She needed to talk with someone about everything she had been through because she was very much aware that repressing her emotions was doing her no good. Being at Hogwarts – surrounded by so many people – was stressful and scary and she was so used to hiding herself from others that she knew she couldn't start a proper relationship or connect with her friends probably because she was always holding a bit of herself back. If Sirius was there for her examination, then that was one step towards telling someone, and perhaps confiding her thoughts and feelings in the older man who had been through something terrible would help her (and him).

"I would like you to stay for my exam as well." Aileen told him.

"Right, on the table." Andromeda ordered briskly. "I'll run my standard scans, and depending on my results I may ask you to remove your robes and strip to just your underwear so I can get a better assessment and begin treatment."

Sirius did as he was told and Aileen stood at the side of the table, not touching her godfather since she knew that doing so would disrupt the scans.

"What potions are you on?"

"Nutrient potions, which I've been on since July 26th." Sirius said promptly. Aileen had started sending him the potions within two days of getting him out of Hogwarts. "I'm not taking anything else except for the occasional calming potion if I've woken from a nightmare and can't sleep. That happens perhaps once a week."

"You only have nightmares once a week?" Andromeda questioned making a note on the parchment.

"No, I have nightmares almost every night." Sirius answered, knowing that being frank was the best way to go in situations like this. "I can normally calm myself with my Occlumency exercise or I've woken late enough to just get up and start the day."

"Okay." Andromeda nodded her understanding, writing that down as well before she cast her detection charm which would tell her all the problems with a patient's health as long as it was nothing obscure. Once the medi-quill had finished writing her results, she cast more spells over him.

Sirius sat as still as he could during this entire process, eyeing the quill which was writing away, dubiously. He knew he still had lingering problems from his stay in Azkaban, he got tired easily, his magic wasn't as strong as it used to be, he wasn't as in control of his emotions as he should be (although he had been getting better since Aileen took him in), he was almost always cold and he knew he was still somewhat underweight.

Finally, Andromeda stopped casting spells and she picked up the parchment which was full of Sirius's data. After pursuing it for a long moment, she nodded approvingly.

"You're in much better health then I thought you would be. I've treated people who have come from Azkaban after only spending a month or a year there at most, and they weren't nearly as well of as you; especially since you've not actually been to see a healer. Aileen's work with you has slowly been bringing your weight to a more normal rang and if you continue taking the nutrient potion and following your current diet, you should be within the healthy range by September. Have you been doing any physical activity?"

"I run with Aileen in my dog form. I'm planning on taking that up as a human now I'm free." Sirius answered. "I'm also hopping to start duelling practise soon, however I was waiting to see if it was safe for me to do so."

"You've matured." Andromeda said giving Sirius an approving smile. "The running is doing you a lot of good. How far can you run?"

"I have no idea, but I know it's a greater distance than what I was doing when I first got out." Sirius answered, turning to Aileen who he knew tracked the distance she ran.

"At first he could only run 1, maybe 2 miles, if he was pushing himself before he stopped and rested. That was normally enough to get us to the local park and I would complete my own distance while running around it. It normally took about forty minutes to recover enough to do the run back." Aileen answered, thinking back to all that time ago. It had been nearly eleven months since Sirius had joined her and he almost immediately joined her running route. "The last time we ran together – which was about twelve days ago – he ran 9 nine miles and it only took him twenty minutes to recover and walk back to Hagrid's hut which was about quarter of a mile from the lake."

"That's impressive. How much do you normally run?" Andromeda asked Aileen as she made a note about Sirius physical fitness.

"I normally do about 12 miles right now on a relaxed day when I'm doing other physical activities. If I'm just running, I generally do about 18 miles." Aileen answered. Fortunately the Lake at Hogwarts was 3 miles all the way around so it was easier to determine how much she had run compared to when she was running around Surry.

Andromeda got a second parchment and made of note of what Aileen had said. "I'll ask more questions about your physical activities later." She said before turning back to Sirius. "I fortunately, I have some bad news. The damage your body suffered while at Azkaban means you'll never be able to sire children."

Sirius nodded resignedly. He had already guessed that he wouldn't be fertile, but he had Aileen and she was the closest thing he had to a daughter and he was fine with that. He didn't plan on starting a relationship anytime soon, and even if he did, he felt like he was too old to be raising children. Aileen grasped Sirius' hand in comfort.

"That was the only thing of concern I had." Andromeda admitted. "You're health is well on track and there is nothing I can recommend that you aren't already doing. You may start duelling, but like with the running, you need to take it slow. Any other symptoms of exposure you may still be experiencing will slowly fade with time although you may always be vulnerable against the beasts."

"Understood." Sirius said, mentally planning his duelling schedule around the basic aura training his had gone through and working up to the training he had James had been doing with the Hit Wizards during the war. Doing it that way meant he would be starting at an 'easy' relaxed level and working his way back to where he had been before.

"Right, Aileen swop places with Sirius please." Andromeda ordered, setting Aileen's parchment up. "First, what is your current exercise routine?"

"I run every morning, like I said. Every other day I run only 12 miles and then I do sit ups, crutches and push ups. I do sixty of each. Then I go through some martial arts forms and 'shadow fighting' for about thirty minutes. I cool down with Yoga." Aileen answered confidently. She didn't mention the stressed shadow fighting she did since it wasn't regular and so not part of her routine.

"Shadow fighting?" Andromeda questioned.

"Oh… it's when she pretends she's fighting an opponent with her sword, dagger or even just her hands. It's bloody scary and I can't wait to get her in a magical duelling setting." Sirius answered that question excitedly. After he had seen Aileen fight of those dogs when she ran away he was concerned for her safety. Then he had seen her training routine and she was frightening in her intensity. If she was also practising her magical duelling to the same degree then she would be one hell of an opponent.

"Are you on any potions?"

"I've been on a low grade nutrient potion for the last three years, but I starting taking the high grade one at the same time as Sirius. I don't take any other potions."

Andromeda nodded silently and began her series of diagnostic spells. Unlike Sirius who only had about three foot of parchment (which included injuries he had suffered in the past) Aileen's parchment was nearly eight feet by the time the medi-quill had finished. Sirius and Andromeda shared an uneasy look: most hit-Wizards didn't accumulate such a long parchment until they had been on the job for at least ten years.

When Andromeda began reading the parchment her face became pinched in anger, and her grip tightened, but she didn't let her professional mask drop. Aileen watched all of this with a blank expression. Knowing that the Healer would need to see the extent of the damage so that she could properly assess what could be treated, Aileen slipped of the table and began disrobing. Sirius immediately turned slightly so he wasn't staring at her, however Aileen didn't really care for modesty and the only reason she didn't change in the same room as her dorm mates was because she didn't want to answer the questions that her scars would arise.

"Where did you get these scars?" Andromeda asked when Aileen was just in her underwear.

"The Dursleys." Sirius growled angrily, his eyes flashing as he took in the damage done to his goddaughter's body but he made as thought to march out of the room – his magic reacting visibly to his anger.

Aileen caught his hand, unconcern for her own safety in response to Sirius' crackling magic since she knew it would recognise her as his goddaughter and someone he was trying to protect. She was right, the moment she made contact, his magic calmed and seemed to wrap protectively around Aileen who was staring pleadingly at Sirius. "Please Sirius, you can't go after them." she said worriedly as she saw the amount of anger he was radiating.

"But they hurt you. Scared you. They deserve to be killed." Sirius growled angrily. Andromeda stepped back, waiting for them to finish or, if Aileen couldn't talk him down, subdue Sirius. Sirius' magic was likely to register her as a threat right now and so she was better off staying back until she had no choice but to step in or Sirius was in control again.

"Yes, Vernon Dursley hurt me. But you can't go after him Sirius, I didn't go through so much trouble to make you a free man for you to land yourself in Azkaban. I need you here, please."

At those words, Sirius immediately deflated. "All right, but you deserve justice."

"I know, and I'll go after the Dursleys, but in my own time in my own way." Aileen told him confidently.

"Alright, now that's settle, I'm going to need an account of some of your scars and past injuries. Particularly the more severe ones. Age and cause will impact treatment." Andromeda said, getting a clean piece of parchment that she cast a spell on that created an outline of a human.

"I don't know where some of them came from, but I'll do my best to answer your questions." Aileen told her.

"Then we'll start with the ones that are causing the greatest concern and damage." Andromeda decided as she cast another scan over Aileen's body which caused several scars to light up as purple, red or yellow.

Instead of waiting for questions Aileen simple began addressing the injuries. First, she started with the circle scar on the crook of her elbow of her right arm. The scar that went all the way through her arm and she received from the Basilisk back in her first year. It was glowing purple, single that it was from a magical creature.

"I receive this scar when I was twelve and was bitten by a basilisk. I survived only because Fawkes the Phoenix had been with me at the time." Aileen explained succinctly.

"I'm really going to need to get that story from you." Sirius said in a very tightly controlled voice as his eyes widened at how close to death Aileen had been.

Andromeda silently nodded and made a not on her drawing of a person. She had already indicated all the scars that had highlighted and what colours they had highlighted in.

Next Aileen ran her fingers along the scar which went from the hallow of her right hip, diagonally across her chest to finish at her shoulder. It was an enflamed red with hints of purple. "I received this one when I was seven. Sirius, you remember the dogs you saw me fight?" Aileen inquired.

"Yes, but I don't recognise their species." Sirius answered, confused by the question.

"That's because the monsters of Greek Mythology are real. Those dogs were hell hounds. The first time I faced one I was seven, and I still wasn't used to the monsters that hunted me down and attacked every now and again. One of them got me with its claws, causing this scar, when I wasn't fast enough to roll out of the way. As I got older, I got better at using my environment, and eventually I was able to get weapons that would kill the monsters and began training to use them."

"If the monsters of Greek Mythology are real, why don't we see them?" Sirius questioned confused.

"Because they are hidden from your sight by the Mist. You only saw the hell hounds for what they were because of me. I'll explain more later," Aileen tagged her promise on the end when she saw that Sirius looked ready to ask more questions since he would rather be talking about the relatively safe topics of monsters that the injuries Aileen had sustained since his control over his anger was strenuous at best.

"Can you explain the scar that runs along your back?" Andromeda asked, stepping in know the family moment was over. She was hear purely in a professional capacity so unless it related to Aileen's health it wasn't her right to ask questions. However, she wasn't going to stop Sirius asking questions, although it looked like Aileen was more than willing to shut down that avenue of questioning for now.

"Which one?" Aileen asked confused.

She couldn't exactly see her own back and know which ones had been highlighted. Sirius stepped forward, having seen the way that Aileen reacted to most people's touch, and gentle ran his finger along the red scar which ran between Aileen's shoulder blades in a perfectly straight line. Aileen stiffen immediately at her godfather's touch, and she fought back the instinctual reaction to flinch away. Once he had reach the end of the scar, Sirius stepped back.

"That one was from Vernon. He was punishing me for something – I don't remember what. I was about five at the time. He used a knife to run along my back, and then every time I cried out during the rest of my punishment he would rub salt into the wound." Aileen explained blandly.

Sirius growled angrily and clasped Aileen's hand in his own as a way of grounding himself and offering Aileen comfort. Although she was putting on a mask of not being effected, Sirius knew very well that Aileen did feel pain and sadness as much as she tried to hide those emotions from herself and the world.

Aileen took a deep breath and offered Sirius a half-hearted smile. "Are there any more on my back that have been highlighted?" Aileen enquired, keen to be moving on and so getting this over with since she had now down that the internal damage she had suffered will need to be addressed at some point.

"There's another two." Sirius informed her. "This one…" he carefully ran his finger down the centre of Aileen's spin, from the base of her next to just below her ribs, were the scar started to curve left and finished just under Aileen's left breast. Sirius didn't know if it continued under Aileen's bra, nor would he ask his goddaughter to remove the only thing preserving her modesty and offering her some form of protection so that he could see the extent of the damage done to her.

Before Aileen could explain how that scar happened, he also ran his finger along the final scar on Aileen's back that had been highlighted, except this time it was yellow. It was a large circular patch of skin on the back of Aileen's right shoulder that was about the sizes of a fist. Despite it being obvious that this was a scar piece of skin, there were old and knew scars on/under it as well.

"The red one was caused by a wire. It wrapped all around my body…" Aileen drew her own finder from where they could see the end of the scar, up over her left breast, and across her chest to the base of her throat where she then wrapped it around her neck to join with the tip of the scar. Now that she had shown them the line it had taken, Sirius noticed that there was a faint scar present. "It didn't dig as deep into the front of my body and it was easier for me to treat and clean it, then it was to treat and clean my back where it had dug deeper."

"The yellow one…" Aileen closed her eyes in a remembered pain.

She had tried to repress those memories – pushing it to the back of her mind to not be thought about. Noting that Aileen was struggling, Sirius took his cloak and wrapped it around Aileen's shoulders and drew her into a half hug. Aileen was stiff and uncomfortable in the hug at first – completely unused to someone offering her general comfort, but she eventually relaxed into the safety of his arms and from there continued her explanation.

"Yellow means that there was a wound that would have been red, but it became heavily infected to the point that most people die. And I nearly did, especially since I had no true medical treatment beyond what I could provide myself. I think, the only reason I survived was because of my magic. The original injury was caused when I was fixing the Dursley's fencing. Dudley, he came running out into the yard and pushed me back. I fell on a piece of wood which pierced my shoulder. Petunia let me into the bathroom so I could remove the wood as best I could – including the splinters with some pliers. But it was difficult due to the position. She also gave me some rubbing alcohol and let me use the shower to try and wash it out before bandaging it with proper bandages – I'm pretty sure that was the only time I got to use actual bandages without stealing them first. When Vernon got home, he was furious that Petunia had led me use the rubbing alcohol, hot water and bandages." Aileen took in a shuddering breath. "He hit her in punishment before locking me up. I wouldn't let me out for any reason for nearly two weeks. No light, no clean water, no toilet. My shoulder became infected, and I know my temperature spiked to the point that I should have been hospitalised. But I pulled through in the end. But that was the last time my Aunt did anything obvious to help me."

"So your aunt didn't abuse you?" Andromeda inquired, frowning in thought as she wrote what Aileen had said in her notes.

"I think, if I had just been living with my aunt I wouldn't have been loved, but I wouldn't have been abused either. She would have made sure I had food – even if it wasn't the sugary feasts by cousin got – that I had decent cloths that fit, that I did well in school, that I had my own bedroom and that I knew about my heritage. But with Vernon's anger and fists, there was only so much she could do. She was the one who first started giving me chores so that I was out of Vernon's way most of the time but that ended up backfiring when it just gave Vernon another reason to punish me for not doing something right and the chores became things that weren't remotely age appropriate."

"Perhaps, we could see about giving your aunt a way out?" Sirius suggested. "I know your mother never approved of who her sister had married and had offered Petunia sanctuary if she ever needed it."

"I think that would be a good idea." Aileen nodded her acceptance. She didn't love her aunt, but she didn't hate the women either. She had been put in a precarious situation, especially when she couldn't contact anyone in the wizarding world about Aileen's safety.

"We just have some a couple more scars left to go through before we move onto other matters." Andromeda drew that back on topic.

"Right." Aileen pulled away from Sirius, and he let her go, but she kept his clock on since the next scars they were discussing were on her legs and still clearly visible. "This one…" Aileen indicated the purple bit mark on her left leg. It looked like it was from a massive dog since it covered most of her calf, but Aileen had been a very small child and the scar had simple stretched as she grew. "…is from a dog bite. Vernon's sister, Marge Dursley, breeds Pitbull dogs. Their vicious beasts and she had one that was trained to attack me on sight. I wasn't fast enough to stop or distract it and so was chased. Before I could get up a tree and to safety it was able to clamp its jaws around my leg. It hung on until I was able to hit it hard over the nose and escape."

"How are you not afraid of dogs?" Sirius asked in disbelief. Aileen hadn't been remotely afraid of him when she found what she thought was a stray dog in the streets that easily came up to her waist.

"Well Hell Hounds are nothing like normal dogs and I know why they're attacking me. The Pitbull that bit me was bread and trained to do so. Any of the other dog's I've met are kind, playful beasts. Like humans – some want to harm me, while others don't." Aileen shrugged off her godfather's concern. She could have chosen to fear cyclops because she was attacked by one, but she knew that they were her half-brothers (in a sense) and only the abandoned ones actually grew up to hunt half-bloods. The principle there was the same as it was with the dogs, with wizards and with humans in general.

"And the final scar?" Sirius prompted.

The last scar was red and ran under her knee cap. Andromeda had seen similar scars before and guessed at what it was, but waited for Aileen's confirmation encase she was wrong it it's shape and placement was just a similarity as opposed to having the same root cause.

"I broke my leg very badly when I was pushed down the stairs. My bone pierced the skin." Aileen shrugged carelessly. Of all the scars that had been highlighted, that was the least painful to recall the cause of or the reaction to.

"I won't be able to get rid of these scars, but there is a cream that can be applied each night which will heal some of the damage so that they won't be as prominent. If used on the other scars on your body, they will fade to almost nothing – only the keenest eyes will be able to spot them." Andromeda told Aileen the good news she had before they moved onto the next cause of concern that needed to be addressed.

"If you give me the recipe, I would prefer to make my own potions so that I I'm sure that it will work." Aileen told Andromeda as politely as she could.

"Understandable. Considering you've been making a high grade nutrient potion without any detrimental effects, I'm confident enough in your potion skill to allow such." Andromeda agreed.

"I'll make the potion lab the next priority then." Sirius announced.

"My next cause of concern is your weight. Despite the nutrient potions you've been on for the last three years, you're still underweight and you're nutrient levels aren't were they should be. Most of your body mass is coming from your muscles." Andromeda reported her next health concern while Aileen slipped into her shirt and trouser before wrapping Sirius' cloak back around her shoulders. She found it surprisingly comforting to be surrounded by Sirius' sent while they discussing her health.

"I was being forced back to the Dursleys, which meant by the time I was starting to eat a relatively decent meal I was suddenly having to cut back. Now that I've leaving with Sirius though, that won't be a problem and I should start putting on weight and getting the proper balance of food. I've spoken with Poppy Pomfrey about it before when I went to her with questions about what sort of diet would be best to try and increase nutrient intake." Aileen explained.

"Then I won't ask you to change anything about what you're doing about your diet. Continue with the potion and eating three to four decent meals each day. I'll come back in a month to see if you've put on weight and see if you're nutrient levels have improved. If they have, I'll probably take you off the potion and encourage you to get used to getting the proper nutrient levels without it." Andromeda made a note a note of this on start of the next sheet of paper, pleased that Aileen was already somewhat trained in healing and willing to work with her in improve her health.

"Then next thing I need to discuss is a rather sensitive issue." Andromeda said, relaxing her stance and looking to Aileen. She silently asked if Aileen wanted to explain this to Sirius or if she wanted her to do it.

Aileen's grip tightened on Sirius' cloak and she bowed her head, allowing her shoulders to hunch in slightly in a subconscious comforting gesture. Completely confused about what his cousin was talking about but recognising the distress of his goddaughter, Sirius gathered her small body into his arms and hug her against his chest but made sure his grip was constricting so that Aileen could pull away and escape if she wanted to. Instead of pulling away like Andromeda had expected Aileen too, she buried her head against Sirius; neck and clutched at his shirt in a desperate search for comfort as she tried to gather her thoughts and broach this topic.

Aileen didn't understand why she was so comfortable allowing Sirius to hold her. Like when she had seen her father during first year, and she had attacked him with a hug which was highly out of character. She didn't know why she allowed contact with these two men but shied away from any other form of contact. She guessed it had something to do with their aura/magic which was comforting and familiar to her since she knew that both of them had attempted to protect her when she was a baby and again over the years since (even if Sirius' didn't break out of Azkaban until she was nearly thirteen). They had both been there for her in one way or another, and Aileen guessed that her magic recognised that and allowed her to seek conform and touch from them because she knew they wouldn't hurt her.

"What do you know of blood wards?" Aileen eventually decided to start with.

"Very little beyond that they are a means of protection. Some of the strongest wards on this house are blood wards that when fully active will prevent anyone but those with Black blood from entering and even then they won't be able to enter if they wish harm." Sirius answered cautiously, not releasing his hold on Aileen who seemed perfectly content to hide within his arms like a scared child.

"When mum died, she active a blood protection. In an attempt to anchor and strengthen it, Dumbledore left me with Petunia and Vernon Dursley. He set Mrs Figg to watch over me since he couldn't put more wards around the property without alerting the ministry to my location and one of the my greatest protections was that no one knew where I was – particularly while the wards settled.

What he didn't know was that Petunia's fear of magic and discontent meant that the wards could be unintentionally manipulated. Dudley grew up hating me – someone with the Even's blood. And then there was Vernon, who immediately began hating, neglecting and hurting me. So when the wards solidified they trapped me. I couldn't fight back against Vernon without the wards stopping me. And I was bound to the house – if I tried running without the intention of returning, it was like someone was stabbing me in my heart and after a while I was pulled back to the house. The only reason I haven't been pulled back already is because I have black blood in my veins and it's giving me a bit of leeway. We'll need to discuss a way of making that leeway permanent." Aileen looked up, locking eyes with Sirius.

"The only way I can do that is a two way adoption. Taking you as my daughter and you taking me as your father. It would involve the sharing of blood and so the transference of the blood wards as well." Sirius said thoughtfully. "I'll go over the information on blood wards that we have in the library before doing the ritual though."

"Thanks," Aileen smiled grateful and honoured that Sirius didn't even contemplate not taking Aileen as a daughter. "Anyway, the wards meant I couldn't fight back and successfully defend myself. So when Vernon started…." Aileen trailed of her eyes closing as she tried giving herself. "When he started to touch me… I couldn't."

"Shhh…" Sirius soothed, shoving his instinct horrified anger to the back of his mind as he realised what Aileen was saying. "It's alright, I won't let him touch you again."

Aileen truly broke then. For the first time in her memory she let go of her emotions and cried. Andromeda left the room at this point, knowing that there was nothing she could do until Sirius had calmed Aileen down. Sirius himself transfigured the examining table back into the sofa so that he could more comfortable hold his goddaughter while she cried her heart out into his shoulder. It broke his heart to hear her sob so violently, but he could do nothing but hum soothingly and gentle rub her back.

Edited: 13/10/2017

Word count: 7854


End file.
